SOS Children’s Villages: mental health support in Haiti – lessons and future hopes (part one)

Guest blog by Faimy Loiseau, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Haiti

On this World Mental Health Day, we join the global call to prioritise mental health, especially in the most vulnerable communities. While mental health issues affect people everywhere, in crisis-hit regions like Haiti, the need for support is urgent. Political instability, gang violence, and natural disasters have left millions stressed, fearful, and traumatised, but mental health services remain scarce.

Through initiatives funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) like SOS Children’s Villages' adoption of Problem Management Plus (PM+), we're working to change this. PM+ is a low-cost, scalable mental health intervention that empowers local communities to manage conditions like anxiety and depression. By training lay health workers, SOS Children’s Villages aims to reach hundreds of clients, easing the burden on Haiti's overwhelmed healthcare system. This work highlights the importance of integrating mental health support into humanitarian efforts, ensuring that even in the toughest settings, mental well-being is not forgotten.

As we mark this important day, we’re highlighting two perspectives on delivering mental health care first from the PM+ Helpers on the ground and second from SOS Children’s Villages as programme developers

Part 1 – Faimy Loiseau, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Haiti, shares her thoughts on delivering impact, overcoming challenges and changing perceptions of mental health.

How has the PM+ training impacted your ability to support young adults and caregivers in your community? Could you share any specific examples where the training made a difference?

The PM+ training has improved our ability to help young adults and caregivers on managing different problems they are facing by equipping us with practical tools to manage stress and adversity. Through stress management techniques like relaxation, we can effectively and immediately address the well-being of the clients (young adults or caregivers).

For example, one client said that people around her told her how quickly she had changed her behaviour and attitudes. Another shared that if she had found this intervention earlier, her personal life and the way she treats her daughter (who she mistreats a lot even when she feels guilty) would be very different.

A third client explained how expressing her emotions to loved ones – something she had never done – helped her feel better.

What challenges have you encountered while delivering mental health support in such a complex humanitarian context, and how have you managed to overcome them?

As trainers, we’ve encountered several challenges. Some people were hesitant, thinking psychology was only for "crazy" people, while others expected financial aid. Many clients struggled to attend due to lack of transport or food, and some didn’t take the sessions seriously or dropped out early. We also had Helpers leave the country, which disrupted the programme.

To address this, we focused on raising awareness, provided meals and transport when needed, adjusted schedules, and ensured other Helpers could step in to keep things going smoothly.

How has your perspective on mental health changed after undergoing the PM+ training, and how do you think this training will change the way mental health is perceived in your community?

Mental health is a very important matter for our country because of what we have been going through.

The training also reinforced the importance of mental health and we now  see mental health as a collective community resource influenced by multiple socioeconomic and environmental conditions. This understanding helps with a positive approach to mental health, encouraging collective ownership and promoting community ownership.

In what ways has the integration of mental health support into existing programmes affected your approach to your overall work with SOS Children’s Villages?

From the integration of mental health support via PM+, we feel better equipped with simple and effective techniques, easy to be understood by the beneficiaries.

Thanks to mental health support, the team has become closer to the clients as well as the caregivers of different existing programmes. Whereas before the training, most of our interventions were focused on children. Therefore, with the PM+ we give more support to the parents and the coworkers. We have more academic and complex psychotherapeutic and counselling approaches to adopt these more practical techniques.

The educational aspect of PM+ promotes autonomy, empowering individuals to manage their mental health through their learning of PM+ techniques.

[.slimline-cta-box][.slimline-cta_heading]Find out more[.slimline-cta_heading][.slimline-cta_paragraph]For more information on scaling and adoption for humanitarian innovations, explore our Scaling focus area, which includes research, guidance and video case studies.  

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