(March 7, 2016)

Our first 2016 SSPC Webinar was held on March 7 (1–2:30 p.m. EST). The timely topic was providing mental health care for Syrian refugees and featured expert speakers, Ghayda Hassan, Hussam Jefee-Bahloul, and Peter Ventevogel, all of whom are also contributing authors to the 2015 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commissioned report on Syrian refugees ("Culture, Context and the Mental Health and Psychosocial Well Being of Syrians").

Ghayda Hassan is a clinical psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at UQAM university in Montreal and has several research, clinical, and community based national and international affiliations. Her systematic reviews, research, and clinical activities are centered around four main areas of clinical cultural psychology: (1) Intervention in family violence & cultural diversity; (2 ) Identity, belonging, and mental health of children and adolescents from ethnic/religious minorities; (3) Cohabitation, intercommunity relations, and violent extremism; (4) Working with vulnerable immigrants and refugees.

Hussam Jefee-Bahloul, MD a Syrian addiction psychiatrist, Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Lecturer at Yale School of Medicine, conducting global mental health research concerning substance use and mental health issues and the use of technology in delivering services and capacity building interventions in the Syrian humanitarian setting.

Peter Ventevogel, MD, is a psychiatrist and a medical anthropologist. Since October of 2013 he is the Senior Mental Health Expert with UNHCR, the refugee agency of the United Nations. From 2008–2013 he was the editor-in-chief of Intervention, Journal for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, published by the War Trauma Foundation. He worked with the NGO HealthNet TPO in mental health projects in Afghanistan (2002–2005) and Burundi (2005–2008) and as their Technical Advisor Mental Health in the head office in Amsterdam (2008–2011). In 2011 and 2012 he also worked as psychiatrist with Arq Foundation, the national trauma expert center in the Netherlands. Peter regularly did consultancies for the World Health Organization and the UNHCR in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria. He has been course director of several academic short courses such as the course “Culture, Psychology and Psychiatry” (Amsterdam Masters of Medical Anthropology), and the “Practice Oriented Course Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Post Conflict Setting” (HealthNet TPO, the Netherlands) and the annual course “Mental Health in Complex Emergencies” by Fordham University.

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

Describe the challenges facing Syrian refugees, including considerations of the relevant sociocultural context and their cultural understanding of mental health and illness (Ghayda Hassan).

Outline key clinical implications in providing mental health and psychiatry care for Syrian refugees (Hussam Jefee-Bahloul).

Discuss system level issues and the global mental health response from an international perspective (Peter Ventevogel).

Click on one of the following links to open a pdf of the speaker's powerpoint:

The Mental Health of Syrians (Peter Ventevogel, UNHCR)

Providing Mental Health Care for Syrian Refugees (Ghayda Hassan)

Mental-Health Care for Syrian Refugees: Clinical Implications (Hassam Jefee-Bahloul, UMASS)