Implementing culturally sensitive and sustainable mental health training programs internationally: lessons from Haiti

Abstract

The increasing focus on mental health across the globe calls for guidance on how mental disorders manifest across different cultures and best practice models for addressing these issues from a cultural perspective. Additionally, in countries with limited resources and greater susceptibility to natural disasters, such as the case in Haiti, the call is even more urgent. This paper shares some guiding principles used to respond to the mental health needs in Haiti to ensure that the work is meaningful, sustainable, culturally sensitive, and culturally relevant. First, an overview of mental health issues and challenges in Haiti is provided, followed by a summary of each principle, which is illustrated with specific examples from the field.

Keywords:

• culturally sensitive
• international
• sustainable mental health

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Notes on contributors

Dr Guerda Nicolas joined in the Department of Educational and Psychological Studies at the University of Miami in August 2008 and is currently the Chair of the Department. She was an associate professor at Boston College in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology prior to joining the EPS faculty. She obtained her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Boston University in 1997. She completed her predoctoral training at Columbia University Medical Center and her postdoctoral training in the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, Department of Child Psychiatry. As a multicultural (Haitian American) and multilingual psychologist (Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole), her research is reflective of her background and interests. She is a licensed psychologist and was the Assistant Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture (ISPRC) along with Dr Janet E. Helms. Her current research projects focus on developing spirituality across the life span among ethnic minorities, culturally effective mental health intervention for ethnic minority adolescents, with a specific focus on immigrant children, adolescents, and families. In addition, she conducts research on social support networks of Carribeans with a specific focus on Haitians. She has published several articles and book chapters and delivered numerous invited presentations at the national and international conferences in the areas of women issues, depression and intervention among Haitians, social support networks of ethnic minorities, and spirituality.

Kahaema Byer is a doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology Program at University of Miami. Her research interests are health disparities, more specifically the biopsychosocial impacts on racism and other social stressors. Kahaema has a strong commitment to Community-based Participatory Research, and other methods that allow for collaborating with communities. As a Caribbean immigrant, Kahaema is also invested in research impacting immigrant communities, and with global reach.

A native of Jamaica, Kimberly Ho is committed to empowering and giving voice to marginalized and ethnically diverse children and adolescents through culturally sensitive and sustainable prevention and intervention programs that address the ‘whole child’. Her research is focused on investigating religion/spirituality, movement/dance, and ethnic identity's influence on various developmental domains-cognitive, socio-emotional, spiritual, and physical. Her aim is for her research to make a contribution at the policy level, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.