Spirituality and psychosocial work in emergencies: four commentaries and a response
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Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Intervention
Abstract
The commentaries on the next few pages relate
to the article ‘Spirituality and mental health in
humanitarian contexts: an exploration based on
World Vision’s Haiti earthquake response’ by
Alison Schafer on page 121^130 of issue 8.2 of
Intervention (2010). The author uses the experiences
in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake to
substantiate her argument that nongovernmental
organisations do not have a clear set of interventions
to address the spiritual needs of an a¡ected
population, in conjunction with their mental health
and psychosocial support needs. The author considers
this a gap, given the evidence that spirituality
can have bene¢cial e¡ects on mental
wellbeing, and is often an important resource for
both coping and coming to terms with the consequences
of events. However, as mentioned in the
editorial of issue 8.2, blurring the line between psychosocial
support and ‘spiritual support’could lead
to promoting speci¢c religious values to distressed
populations, and may even be seen as proselytising
of vulnerable groups. The dilemma surrounding
this uneasy relationship between religion and psychosocial
work de¢nitely warrants further exploration
and discussion.
Description
Keywords
Mental health, Psychosocial support, Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), Spirituality, Spiritual nurture, Psycho-spiritual
Citation
Onyango, G. R., Paratharayil, M., van den Berg, S., Reiffers, R., Snider, L., & Erikson, C. (2011). Spirituality and psychosocial work in emergencies: Four commentaries and a response. Intervention, 9(1), 61-73.