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The term Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) describes “any type of local or outside support that aims to protect or promote psychosocial well-being and/or prevent or treat mental disorder.” It describes a broad range of activities to protect and promote psychosocial well-being or prevent loss. The components of MHPSS interventions may vary depending on the contexts, actors and sector of application (e.g., healthcare, education) and MHPSS interventions during conflict rely primarily on the assessment of the type of issues and challenges affecting the population.
Overall, MHPSS includes interventions promoting the resilience of individuals, families, and communities that allows them to return to normal life after facing a crisis.
The war in Ukraine and its impact on the lives of the population pose extraordinary risks to the mental health and well-being of the population. The accumulated evidence shows that the consequences could be felt for decades to come. The impact of displacement, violence, and disruption of essential services is highly likely to lead to acute and chronic stress, feelings of anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, sleep problems, fatigue, irritability, or anger in Ukrainian society, the neighbouring countries of Europe and the wider world.
The protective capacity and life-saving role of education is being hampered by this current context: children and education staff affected by the war have an increased risk of suffering emotional harm and developing mental health problems with grave implications for their overall health and future.
To protect the fundamental right to education, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU) has partnered with UNESCO to transform the provision of MHPSS inside the school system as part of the nationwide plan to enhance mental health services across multiple sectors, led by First Lady Olena Zelenska.
As part of this joint MHPSS initiative, an Advocacy and Communication Strategy was developed, outlining the objective, expected outcomes as well as the potential products to be developed in order to disseminate and promote ideas for the transformation of MHPSS in Ukraine’s education sector.
Within the framework of this Strategy, this brand book is designed to enable and streamline the creation of advocacy and communication materials that can be instantly identified as part of the MESU-UNESCO collaboration.