Enhancing psychosocial support services for host communities and Syrian refugees in Jordan

Context

Jordan hosts many refugees, including 638,760 registered Syrian refugees. Of these, 81 per cent live outside refugee camps, placing heavy demands on the country's infrastructure, especially its healthcare system. This has highlighted the urgent need to enhance mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services to meet the growing needs of both host communities and refugees.

Objective

Public health care in Jordan now integrates basic psychosocial support. Community-based organisations provide quality services in communities, particularly in the cities of Sahab, Mafraq, and Zarqa, which host large numbers of Syrian refugees. Additionally, at least one university continues to train students and/or professionals in community-based psychosocial support.

Approach

To improve psychosocial support (PSS) in Jordan, the project collaborates with the Ministry of Health (MoH), community-based organisations (CBOs), and universities to implement the following measures:

• It enables the Ministry of Health set up training programmes to integrate psychosocial support into public health care services, especially for women who experienced violence and for school children.
• The project supports existing mental health service providers such as International Medical Corps, to continue and improve service delivery.
• It supports the Ministry of Health developing and implementing a staff care policy, establishing a Staff Care and Self-Care Centre, and training staff members to help their colleagues manage stress and practice self-care.
• The project ensures that one health facility is made accessible for people with disabilities and helps other facilities improve rooms for staff care.
• It empowers community-based organisations to provide trauma-informed, gender-sensitive psychosocial support while improving staff care, collaboration and coordination.
• The project enables universities to introduce courses for psychosocial support in a context with refugees.
• It organises dialogue and coordination meetings between stakeholders, creating an environment where best practices are shared.
• The project facilitates community initiatives that address the collected recommendations to enhance group-based psychosocial support, peer support, psychosocial support for persons with disabilities, and sustainability for PSS services.

Last update: December 2024