Mental Health Worker

A young woman from Syria starts a new life in Turkey after being shot by a sniper.

MSF psychologist Audrey Magis discusses how war has affected people in Syria and what MSF is doing to help.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and its supporters should improve access to mental health care services for a population still reeling from decades of conflict, political instability, and social upheaval.

Two months after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeast Japan, MSF psychologists are continuing to work with survivors.

Among the large scope of MSF activities in Haiti, as of May 31, more than $14.6 million has been spent on surgical care for Haitians injured in the earthquake. At least $5.3 million was spent on maternal health services.

Six months after Haiti’s January 12 earthquake, MSF describes the organization’s largest ever emergency response.

The teams are still working hard to treat as many as possible, always trying to save what they can from so many injured bodies.

A year after the war in the Gaza Strip, civilians continue to be deeply affected. Elina Pelekanou, an MSF psychologist in Gaza, speaks about what she has seen.

Daisy Plana, a Philippine psychologist working for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has been providing mental health support to victims of the violent earthquake that hit Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 30, 2009, in the rural areas around the coastal city of Pariaman.

Three days after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia, last week, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency teams arrived in the area and began to assess the medical and non-medical needs of the population.

Theresa Saday, 40, is confronting the problem of sexual violence in Liberia, where she works with MSF to counsel sexual violence victims and their parents.

“We meet parents on a daily basis who are unhappy that their children, who have been raped or abused, will go to the police. These parents are anxious, they are afraid for their children’s safety. So they turn to us with their concerns and for support.”

An interview with Olivia Gayraud, a French emergency nurse, who helped open the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) 56-bed emergency medical and surgical program at St. Joseph's Hospital in Port-au-Prince in October 2004. In March 2007, she became head of mission at the project, which now inlcudes a program to treat victims of sexual violence with medical and mental health care.

Victor Garcia, former MSF Project coordinator in Norte de Santander department, Colombia

Philip Humphris is Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) head of mission for West Darfur state in Sudan. He has returned from western Darfur and, as the number of aid agencies in Darfur continues to decrease, explains what MSF is doing in this region.

Allison Male is a 36-year-old British psychologist. She arrived in Pakistani-administered Kashmir just days after the October 8 earthquake struck and her task is to provide psychosocial support to survivors of the disaster. She has also worked with MSF in Liberia and Burundi. This story is from her diary.

Less than a week after the Asian earthquake of October 8, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began to offer psychosocial care to traumatized survivors in northern Pakistan, the area worst hit by the disaster. Marise Denault, an MSF social worker and mental health specialist, explains the situation.

Fabienne de Leval, 33, is a psychologist working to coordinate MSF's mental health programs in Bada Aceh, Sigli, and Lamno in Kosovo. 

Erika Seid, an American psychotherapist, spent ten months (March 2004 to January 2005) working with MSF to establish mental health services clinic in Kinkala, a town of six to ten thousand people, in the Pool region of the Republic of Congo.

Clinical psychologist Michael Michalik worked for MSF in the Gaza Strip for six months in late 2003 and early 2004. He is part of a mobile team that works with families most affected by the continuing violence.

Volunteer social worker Alain Rias is helping MSF provide treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in Honduras.