“Too far, too fast?”

In this sixth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the MHPSS Hub, and Dan Amias, Senior Innovation Learning Adviser at Elrha, speaks with Mercy Githara, MHPSS Manager at the Kenya Red Cross Society, and Anne de Graaf, Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO) about two chatbots: STARS, a non-AI chatbot developed by WHO, and Chat Care, an AI chatbot being deployed in Kenya by the Red Cross.

Key resources for practitioners:
Kenya Red Cross Society: Chat Care, AI Powered Mental Health Chatbot

WHO: Doing What Matters in Times of Stress evidence based self-help guide

WHO: STARS chatbot for more information contact psych_interventions@who.int

Red Cross Digital MHPSS pledge: Leveraging and facilitating technology-empowered pathways

MHPSS Hub resources on Suicide prevention:
Find infographics, videos, podcasts, guides and tools on suicide prevention

Read more about the research:
STARS chatbot (non-AI): de Graaff A.M, et al. Evaluation of a Guided Chatbot Intervention for Young People in Jordan: Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Ment Health

Keyan, D., et al. The development of a World Health Organization transdiagnostic chatbot intervention for distressed adolescents and young adults.

Akhtar, A., et al. Scalable Technology for Adolescents and Youth to Reduce Stress in the Treatment of Common Mental Disorders in Jordan: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Karim Chatbot: Madianou, M. Nonhuman humanitarianism: when “AI for good” can be harmful. Information, Communication & Society

Torous, J. et al. Assessing generative artificial intelligence for mental health, The Lancet.

Spencer SW, Masboungi C. Enabling access or automating empathy? Using chatbots to support GBV survivors in conflicts and humanitarian emergencies, International Review of the Red Cross.

Developing digital MHPSS resources:
Reach out to the MHPSS Hub: mhpsshub@rodekors.dk or Elrha: info@elrha.org for collaboration on developing digital MHPSS approaches.

Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis-Affected Contexts is a six-episode mini-series produced in collaboration between the MHPSS Hub and Elrha, designed for practitioners working in humanitarian and crisis contexts, the series highlights impactful interventions and practical insights from experts in the field.

Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis Affected Contexts, episode 5: EASE

“What matters to young people? Climate, jobs, and mental health.”

Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) is an evidence-based group intervention that helps 10–15-year-olds in adversity-affected communities manage stress, anxiety, and depression through skills training. It includes seven sessions for adolescents and three for caregivers, using adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques delivered by trained non-specialist helpers.

In this fifth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, speaks with Professor Mark Jordans (researcher at King’s College London and Director of Research and Development at War Child), and Dr Zeinab Hijazi (Global Lead on Mental Health at UNICEF), to hear more about EASE.

We learn that, while not a ‘magic wand’, EASE has shown significant results and could help fill a gap in mental health support for young people in crisis-affected and low-resource settings. Mark, Sarah, and Zeinab discuss the rigorous training, competencies, and supervision needed for non-specialist providers, and the journey to develop, test and adapt EASE for implementation worldwide, including scale-up in Ukraine. They discuss future research opportunities, such as youth-led research or strengthening and simplifying the intervention. We learn that EASE should be integrated into a broader system of care, informed by national policy frameworks and practice standards.

Key resources for practitioners

Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) – manual and practice materials in multiple languages published by the World Health Organisation

UNICEF Adolescent Mental Health Hub- resources for frontline workers, adolescents, and caregivers

Reach Now- a tool developed by War Child, for use by community members without a professional mental health background, to improve identification of mental health problems in young people and promote care seeking.

Read more about the research:

Mark J.D. Jordans et al. Evaluation of the Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) intervention in Lebanon: A randomized controlled trial. Comprehensive Psychiatry, Volume 127 (2023).

Bryant RA et al. (2022) Effectiveness of a brief group behavioural intervention on psychological distress in young adolescent Syrian refugees: A randomised controlled trial. PLoS Med 19(8): e1004046.

Brown, F. et al. The Cultural and Contextual Adaptation Process of an Intervention to Reduce Psychological Distress in Young Adolescents Living in Lebanon. Front. Psychiatry, 23 March 2020, Sec. Public Mental Health, Volume 11 - 2020

Hamdani, Syed Usman et al. (2024) Effectiveness of a group psychological intervention to reduce psychosocial distress in adolescents in Pakistan: a single-blind, cluster randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Volume 8, Issue 8, 559 – 570.

Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis-Affected Contexts is a six-episode mini-series produced in collaboration between the MHPSS Hub and Elrha, designed for practitioners working in humanitarian and crisis contexts, the series highlights impactful interventions and practical insights from experts in the field.

Tackling the complex issue of perinatal mental health.

Thinking Healthy (TH), a brief psychological intervention that can be delivered by trained and supervised community health care workers. It uses simple cognitive behavioral techniques to provide mothers with support and to improve mental health outcomes for the mother and new-born infant.

In this fourth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, speaks with Dr Waood Afara, Senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Officer at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Yemen‏, and Dr Elisabetta Dozio Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist at Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger- AAH) in France. Dr. Waood and Dr. Elisabetta are experts in both the research and practice of the Thinking Healthy intervention.

Together we examine why dealing with maternal depression is important in humanitarian settings and explain how the intervention works in programming, including how to integrate TH in the workload of already overburdened community health workers. The link between caring for mothers and improving outcomes for children is explored, as are the cultural adaptations required to implement TH and measure its effectiveness. Key insights include importance of empathy and understanding from community and family members to support mothers in recovering, and the critical role that community health workers can play in improved maternal mental health if trained, supervised, and empowered.

Key resources for practitioners

Thinking Healthy: A manual for psychological management of perinatal depression (WHO manual in multiple languages)

Thinking Healthy Training Guide for community health workers and volunteers (MHPSS Hub)

Baby Friendly Spaces: Holistic Approach in Emergencies (ACF Guide)

Read more about the research:

Dozio E, Wamba V, Pueugueu I. Adapting the Thinking Healthy Programme for Perinatal Depression: A Culturally Tailored Approach in Three Central African Countries. European Psychiatry. 2025;68(S1): S151-S151. doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.386

Tomlinson, M., Chaudhery, D., Ahmadzai, H. et al. Identifying and treating maternal mental health difficulties in Afghanistan: A feasibility study. Int J Ment Health Syst 14, 75 (2020).

Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis-Affected Contexts is a six-episode mini-series produced in collaboration between the MHPSS Hub and Elrha, designed for practitioners working in humanitarian and crisis contexts, the series highlights impactful interventions and practical insights from experts in the field.