Education in Emergencies & Mental Health
Education in Emergencies is a powerful vehicle to promote the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people trapped in crises. In humanitarian responses, EiE can serve as an anchor of connection, meaning and positive relationships for children, young people and their communities.
Good Mental Health is the state of well-being in which a person realises her or his own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life and is able to contribute to the community.1 Positive mental health in children and young people is reflected in a positive sense of identity, ability to manage thoughts and emotions, capacity to build relationships, and ability to learn.2 Mental health is critical to children and young people’s success in school and life.
The mental health of children and young people can be disproportionately affected and easily overlooked in the context of emergencies. The amount of damage, destruction and disruption of school and family routines caused by the crisis can be overwhelming and stressful for children, young people and their caregivers, with impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Importantly, not all children and young people respond in the same ways. Some can react right away, while others may show signs of difficulty much later. Some might have more severe, longer-lasting reactions.
To address these effects, the field of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) aims to support and promote children and young people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and prevent or care for mental health problems.3 Under this umbrella, Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) helps children and young people develop the social and emotional skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, show empathy, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.4
Integrating MHPSS and SEL in schools and through education in emergency situations is vital to promoting children and young people’s wellbeing and learning. It can provide them with supportive environments, help them develop essential life skills and build caring relationships with peers and adults. Moreover, this approach can also support the mental health of teachers and caregivers and help them acquire the skills to support others.
Danielle De La Fuente, Founder and CEO, Amal Alliance
What We Know
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Children and young people who have access to education while enduring a crisis can live and thrive – by themselves and with others.
Excluding survival needs, a prompt return to education is the most critical intervention to protect and promote children and young people’s recovery during and after a crisis. Education mitigates the psychosocial impact of conflicts and disasters by giving children and young people a sense of normalcy, stability, structure and hope for the future. It can also build their intellectual and emotional competencies, provide social support through interaction with peers and educators, and strengthen their sense of control and self-worth.
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For children and young people in emergencies, integrating MHPSS and SEL in education can cost-effectively improve their learning.
SEL, as a component of MHPSS in education, supports the development of social and emotional competencies that strengthen academic performance and lifelong learning. SEL can foster in children and young people the development of self-awareness, emotional literacy, cognitive flexibility, improved memory, resilience, persistence, motivation, empathy, social and relationship skills, effective communication, listening skills, self-esteem, self-confidence, respect, and self-regulation.
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Investing in MHPSS through education yields massive returns to children and young people, and to societies.
MHPSS services embedded in education can create a continuum of holistic care that can enhance psychological wellbeing and prevent the onset and burden of mental health problems. School-based interventions addressing anxiety, depression and suicide in adolescents aged 10-19 have a return on investment in lower/middle-income countries of US$88.70 on every dollar invested, and in low-income countries of US$67.60.
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Children and young people with SEL skills can help build stronger, more socially cohesive communities.
Children and young people’s social and emotional wellbeing and resilience are essential to any long-term post-conflict reconstruction, development process, or longstanding peace. In fact, developing SEL skills in learning spaces is often identified as a key objective in programmes intended to build social cohesion before, during, and after crisis and conflict.
Urgent Actions
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Integrate sustainable MHPSS and SEL into education policy, curricula and practice.
Invest in whole-of-school approaches to MHPSS and SEL in education, including in emergency responses, moving beyond a sole focus on curriculum and assessment to consider how the educational experience affects children’s development and wellbeing. Mainstream the development of social and emotional skills and competencies through the curriculum. Establish and communicate cross-sectoral referral systems between education and health sectors.
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Encourage a positive school climate that makes children and young people feel safe and connected.
Teachers and personnel should be trained in MHPPS and SEL, tailoring approaches to children and young people’s evolving and differentiated MHPSS and learning needs. Schools should also provide access to quality preventive interventions that provide timely and adapted psychological first aid and clear pathways to specialised services for children and young people needing extra MHPSS support.
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Support teachers’ mental health and wellbeing, as an end in itself.
The EIE community can do more to support teachers working in emergency settings. This includes understanding the ways in which teachers are instrumental to students’ learning outcomes, as well as recognising, valuing and supporting their capacities, knowledge and needs. Teachers’ wellbeing should be actively promoted by having clearly defined work conditions, by including moral, peer support and stress management spaces, and providing tools for school planning. Teachers must be supported in their efforts to advocate for better compensation and policy change at the national level.
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Tackle mental health stigma and discrimination, together.
Joint efforts by governments, donors, the humanitarian community and practitioners are needed, to dismantle mental health misconceptions, associated stigma and discrimination. This means promoting mental health literacy – supporting children, young people, caregivers and teachers in better understanding how to promote positive mental health. This is not only an issue for health specialists. They should also know how to recognize signs of distress, in themselves and others, and how to seek help when needed.
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Invest in developing new evidence supporting the MHPSS-EiE nexus.
Despite rapid growth in research on MHPSS/SEL, significant gaps in the evidence and the implementation of tools remain. For example, research on clarifying how children and youth’s psychosocial wellbeing intersects with emergencies and education is limited. There is limited awareness of the available approaches to promoting MHPSS and SEL, the contextual implications of MHPSS and SEL tools, or the appropriate use of these tools. This is also an opportunity to invest in locally designed and led research, not least because there is little evidence on the impact of teacher wellbeing efforts and programmes.
GET THE FACTS
Emergencies impact children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, affecting their ability to learn and thrive
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, children and young people globally were already living a mental heal crisis5
- 166 million adolescents aged 10-19 – that is, 13% worldwide – live with a diagnosed mental disorder.
- Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for young people aged 15-19.
- Half of all mental health conditions start at 14 years of age.
Sustained adversity threatens children and young people’s mental health, learning, and wellbeing
- Exposure to adversity, particularly in early childhood, can lead to lifelong impairments in learning, behaviour, and both physical and mental health.6
- In emergencies, children and young people are often exposed to toxic stress – a stress response in children that is strong, frequent, and prolonged, accompanied by the absence of adequate adult support.7 Toxic stress in early childhood will have a broad impact, particularly on learning and memory.8 Later in life, it can cause problems maintaining attention spans, and impulse and emotional control, which are essential for the learning process.9
- When exposed to adversity, children and young people may have trouble connecting with others in school. For example, children who have lost loved ones will often tend to withdraw from peers and teachers at school.10
- Experiencing violence during childhood can also lead to aggressive or disruptive behaviours.
- Teachers, school staff, and parents who have experienced adversity themselves can also suffer from its effects, affecting their interactions with students and peers. Conversely, students’ own experiences can affect teachers’ well-being through Vicarious Trauma, which occurs when someone experiences negative effects from working with others who have experienced trauma.12
Further Reading
Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) (2018)
Guidance Note on Psychosocial Support: facilitating psychosocial wellbeing and social and emotional learningUnited Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) World Health Organization (WHO) (2021)
The MHPSS Minimum Service Package*The members of the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies contributed their knowledge and expertise to this document. Contact us.
SOURCES
- WHO (2004). Promoting mental health: concepts, emerging evidence, practice: summary report
- UNICEF (2021a). The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health.
- Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) (2016). INEE Background Paper on Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning for Children and Youth in Emergency Settings.
- Ibid
- UNICEF (2021a). The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health.
- Shonkoff JP, Boyce WT, McEwen BS (2009). Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and the Childhood Roots of Health Disparities: Building a New Framework for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
- Shonkoff JP, Richter L, van der Gaag J, Bhutta ZA.(2012). An integrated scientific framework for child survival and early childhood development. Pediatrics.
- INEE (2016). INEE Background Paper on Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning for Children and Youth in Emergency Settings.
- American Academy of Pediatrics. (2014). Adverse childhood experiences and the lifelong consequences of trauma.
- National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2019). Childhood traumatic grief: Information for school personnel teaching military children.
- McDonald, A. (2017). Invisible Wounds: The Impact of Six Years of War on the Mental Health of Syria’s Children
- OECD (2020). Improving Education Outcomes for Students Who Have Experienced Trauma and/or Adversity. OECD Education Working Paper No. 242
- Masten, A. S., & Narayan, A. J. (2012). Child development in the context of disaster, war, and terrorism: pathways of risk and resilience.
- Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) (2007). IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings.
- INEE (2016). INEE Background Paper on Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning for Children and Youth in Emergency Settings.
- UNICEF (2021a). The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health.
Additional Resources
- Dybdahl, Ragnhild, and James Williams (2021). “Editorial Note.” Journal on Education in Emergencies 7 (2): 5-18.
- Education Cannot Wait (2019). Healing and Recovery through Education in Emergencies.
- Frounfelker, R., Islam, N., Falcone, J., Farrar, J., Ra, C., Antonaccio, C., . . . Betancourt, T. (2019). Living through war: Mental health of children and youth in conflict-affected areas.
- INEE (2018). Guidance Note on Psychosocial Support: facilitating psychosocial wellbeing and social and emotional learning
- INEE (2021) Teacher wellbeing in emergency settings: Findings from a resource mapping and gap analysis
- INEE (2022). Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning (PSS and SEL) Collection.
- McDonald, A. (2017). Invisible Wounds: The Impact of Six Years of War on the Mental Health of Syria’s Children, Save the Children UK, London
- Save the Children (2019). Road to Recovery: Responding to children’s mental health in conflict
- Shonkoff JP, Richter L, van der Gaag J, Bhutta ZA (2012). An integrated scientific framework for child survival and early childhood development. Pediatrics.
- UNICEF (2021b). Preventing a lost decade: Urgent action to reverse the devastating impact of COVID-19 on children and young people.
