Terugblik MHPSS-conferentie

*Music plays*

Title: MHPSS 2019
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

People great and hugg each other.

Name title: Dr. Rabih El Chammay – Mental Health Programme, Lebanon:
In a humanitarian crisis, I do believe that MHPSS is a matter of life or death.

Name title: Minister Sigrid Kaag, The Netherlands:
And we need to break the silence that still oppresses so many.

Name title: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – Director General WHO:
Neglecting this problem undermines the recovery of individuals, communities, and nations.

Name title: Sylvia Acan, SEMA, Uganda:
To come out of my experience, it was so painful because I thought I had no reason to live.

Name title: Michaela DePrince – War orphan and Dutch National Ballet solist:
A constant feeling of that constant hunger and not knowing the next time I would eat.

Name title: Heba Allibrahim – student VU Amsterdam (Syria):
I could see in his eyes that he was so sorry.
He couldn't do anything for that young man.
He had to go and help other people who had a chance to live.

Name title: Abdul Karim Albrem – UNHCR advocate:
If I would be in Syria now and say: I need psychosocial support people would look at me in a weird way and ask me a question this way: Are you crazy?

Name title: Mark Lowcock – USG Humanitarian Affairs, UN:
Yet in many cases these conditions are ignored or trivialized, despite the fact that they risk leading to serious long-term consequences.

Several people at the event:
The issue of mental healthcare is still considered a taboo.
-We help to connect the government with the community.
The main barrier for implementing or taking our efforts forward is lack of political will and funding.

Name title: Mohamed Elshazly – MHPSS officer UNHCR:
The majority of people can recover very well after these disasters if we manage to provide adequate social support for them.

Name title: Abdul Karim Albrem – UNHCR advocate:
The people who see me as a traumatised refugee, I tell them: Look at me now.
I'm no longer just a victim. Instead, I'm a person with skills and expertise to support my community.

Name title: Tim Kendall – Clinical Director for Mental Health, UK:
The fight for global equality for mental health has only just begun.

Name title: Peter Maurer – President ICRC:
To be very frank, you need champions to bring this on the political agenda.

Name title: Michaela DePrince: War orphan and Dutch National Ballet solist:
80 million children are living in war zones today that need psychosocial support right away.

Name title: Mark van Ommeren – MHPSS Expert WHO:   
To see people from many different organisations coming on board for this agenda...
A big thanks to the Netherlands for creating this moment.

Name title: Minister Sigrid Kaag – The Netherlands:
Put mental health and psychosocial support first all the time, everywhere, for everyone.

Several people at the event:
This conference makes me more hopeful about the future of mental health.
-I'm really pleased that finally people are actually talking the language that people need.
Educating people and creating awareness, I think, is very important. That's what I'll try to do when I get back.
-It should be common sense that we spend time and money on this topic.
As a priority, not something that's done later and not as a back-seat issue.
-We can't forget anyone, anywhere across the globe. We really need to invest in mental health.

Endtitle: mind the mind now
#mindthemindnow