Table Of ContentMENTAL HEALTH AND
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT DURING THE
COVID-19 RESPONSE
An Overview
MENTAL HEALTH AND
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT DURING THE
COVID-19 RESPONSE
An Overview
Edited by
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz, PhD
First edition published 2023
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Mental health and psychosocial support during the COVID-19 response : an overview / edited by Joseph O. Prewitt
Diaz, PhD.
Names: Prewitt-Diaz, Joseph O., editor.
Description: First edition. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20230158420 | Canadiana (ebook) 20230158471 | ISBN 9781774912898 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781774912904 (softcover) | ISBN 9781003347620 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Community mental health services. | LCSH: Mental health services. | LCSH: COVID-19 Pandemic,
2020-—Psychological aspects. | LCSH: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC RA790 .M46 2023 | DDC 362.2—dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data on file with US Library of C o ngress
ISBN: 978-1-77491-289-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-77491-290-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-00334-762-0 (ebk)
About the Editor
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz, PhD
Former Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz, PhD, is a practitioner-scholar who began his career
as a public health worker in the depressed villages of his native Puerto
Rico. He soon learned from the wisdom of the people the value of listening,
identifying common problems together, and devising ways to solve those
community problems. Together with others, he developed the Puerto Rican
Peace Corps: VESPRA. Soon thereafter, he migrated to the United States
to pursue assisting migrant workers in the tobacco fields of Connecticut.
Prewitt Diaz was an advocate for the poor, the linguistically diverse, and the
underrepresented.
He was a professor at the Pennsylvania State University, where he
conducted research, taught, and trained community practitioners who would
become leaders in the fields of school psychology and bilingual education.
During his tenure, he received multiple awards and recognitions, including
the W.K. Kellogg Fellowship and the Woodrow Wilson Hispanic Fellow
ship, acknowledging his research and scholarly contributions. During this
period, Dr. Prewitt Diaz and two collogues conducted a major national study
of the effects of migration on children, and this study led to national changes
in migrant education.
From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Prewitt Diaz served as a mental health volunteer
in some of the major disasters in the United States: Hurricane Andrew, the
Oklahoma City Bombing, and the 9/11 United Recovery in Shanksville,
PA. In 1998, Dr. Prewitt Diaz was assigned to the first international disaster
where American Red Cross implemented a community psychosocial support
program in the Americas, South Asia, and Africa. In 2008 he was the
recipient of the APA International Humanitarian Award. He has continued in
International Services as a volunteer to this day.
Since 1998, Dr. Prewitt Diaz has been serving in international and
domestic services with the American Red Cross. During his postings, he
served as Program Coordinator for Central America in charge of Health,
Water and Sanitation, and Community Engagement. He served the Mental
Health Delegate during the 2002 El Salvador earthquake. He was transferred
vi About the Editor
to India where he served as the Mental Health Delegate during the 2002
India Riots at Gujarat and earthquake response. By end of 2003, he oversaw
the American Red Cross projects in the states of Gujarat, Orissa, and Tamil
Nadu. In 2004 he was assigned to work at the Bhutanese Refugee Camps
in Nepal as the Psychosocial Project Manager. In December of 2004, with
the Southeast Asia Tsunami, he was tasked with the immediate response
to the response and recovery in Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and India.
He returned to his native Puerto Rico where he developed a Disaster Law
Center at the Law School of the University of Puerto Rico. By 2013, he had
returned to the Washington, DC area, where he serves as a Red Cross volun
teer focusing of the use of faith-based communities in disaster preparedness.
He has been seconded to the IFRC for short assignments related to project
development. In 2013, he supported the Ebola outbreak response in Western
Africa; in 2016–2017, he supported the Zika response in Paraguay, Brazil,
and Guatemala. From April 2020 to the present, he has been seconded from
the American Red Cross to the IFRC, where serves as the Mental Health and
Psychosocial Support Technical Expert for COVID-19.
Among the many honors and awards, Dr. Prewitt Diaz received the
Certificate of Merit for Lifesaving from the American Red Cross, the
Meritorious Award from the Latin American Psychiatric Association for
the Development of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programs in
Central America, and the American Psychological Association International
Humanitarian Award.
Contents
Contributors .............................................................................................................ix
Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................xi
In Memoriam ..........................................................................................................xiii
Acknowledgment ..................................................................................................... xv
Foreword ...............................................................................................................xvii
Preface ................................................................................................................... xix
PART I: Background of MHPSS ..........................................................................1
1. Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support as a
Tool to Address the Societal Needs Raised by COVID-19 ...........................3
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
2. Activating Community Resilience Through Community
Capitals After COVID-19 .............................................................................15
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
3. Community Engagement in Times of COVID-19 ......................................23
Anjana Dayal de Prewitt
PART II: Assessment of the Needs of the Most Vulnerable Population ..........27
4. Community Engagement During COVID-19 and Beyond........................29
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
5. Community-Based Psychosocial Support: A Process for the
Protection of Vulnerable Populations During COVID-19 .........................47
Subhasis Bhadra
6. Serving the Most Vulnerable: Psychosocial Support in
Indigenous Communities in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru ..........................................................................75
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
7. Psychological Support Migration Appeal to the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in the
Americas Region ...........................................................................................95
Linda San Marcos
viii Contents
8. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Three African
Countries: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone .........................................119
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
9. Addressing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Needs in
Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda ...............................................139
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
PART III: Implementing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support .............161
10. An Examination of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in
Four Low-Income Countries in South Asia ..............................................163
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
11. Developing a Universal Model of an MHPSS Regional Response ..........185
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
12. Chronology of MHPSS Interventions in the Americas
During the Immediate and Early Recovery ..............................................205
Greisy Massiel Trejo Rodríguez
13. Country-Level Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programs:
Moving Forward After COVID-19 ............................................................239
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
14. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support During and After the
Pandemic: A Practical Response ................................................................267
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
15. Monitoring and Evaluation of Mental Health and Psychosocial
Support*.......................................................................................................275
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
Index .....................................................................................................................297
Contributors
Subhasis Bhadra
Associate Professor and Head, Department of Sports Psychology, Central University of Rajasthan,
Rajasthan, India
Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz
The Pennsylvania State University (Retd.), Pennsylvania, USA
Linda San Marcos
COVID-19 Recovery Program, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent,
Americas Region, Panama, C.A.
Anjana Dayal de Prewitt
American Red Cross, National Headquarters, Washington, D.C., USA
Greisy Massiel Trejo Rodríguez
Mental Health and Health in Emergencies Delegate, Americas Region,
International Federation of the Red Cross, Panama, C.A.
