Despite being essential to the overall development of children and young people, mental health is often deprioritised during crises. However, conflict, health, and environmental crises deeply impact psychosocial well-being, undermining young people’s ability to learn, interact, and envision the future.

In this session, Be-cause health, WAPA international and EPA (les enfants de Panzi et d’ailleurs) will stress the importance of incorporating holistic, context-sensitive approaches into all intervention programmes. This includes strengthening the capacities of educational and community actors to identify and support mental health challenges, creating safe spaces for emotional expression, and actively involving families and young people in co-creating suitable solutions.

They suggest some approaches and actions to ensure that the mental health aspect in the development of children and youth affected by daily crises is not overlooked. We share experiences from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Organised by Be-cause health, Working group Mental health