DATE / TIME:

2017•09•05    09:00 - 2017•09•07    17:00

Location:

Kuala Lumpur

(Registration full and closed)

UNU-IIGH will be organizing a Trainer of Trainer (ToT) Workshop on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Kuala Lumpur, over 3 days in September.

This is a follow-up to the earlier 3-hour basic training on Psychological First Aid workshop, held from 10th and 13-16th February 2017, which was led by Professor Atsuro Tsutsumi from Kanazawa University. It was apparent that there is a lot of interest from many quarters in learning about the PFA; a reflection of the growing recognition on the importance of addressing/managing mental health immediately following a crisis, disaster or any disturbing event.

The Psychological First Aid (PFA) was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) together with other international agencies. PFA involves humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human beings suffering from serious crises events. Anyone may, at some time, be in a position to help others who have experienced an extremely distressing event. PFA is a method to support people in ways that respect their dignity, culture and abilities. PFA has been widely implemented during the East Japan Earthquake, Haiti, Africa, among others.

Workshop details, as below:

• The immediate objectives of the ToT on PFA workshop are to provide comprehensive knowledge and principals on PFA, impart workshop facilitation skills and to enhance trainers’ capacity on PFA.
• This training is relevant if you are involved in humanitarian work or related field; or personnel with some previous experience in (mental) health in disaster (emergency) situation. You would have an interest in capacity building and will one day train others such as colleagues, communities or students, in PFA.
• The fee is MYR500/person which include 6 teas and 3 lunches over 3 days, reading materials and a certificate. This cost is partially subsidized by UNU-IIGH. Participants are expected to attend the full workshop (3 days) and to engage in collaborative activities. Background pre-reading material will be provided in advance.

Workshop facilitators are:

1. Professor Atsuro Tsutsumi works for Kanazawa University in Japan. He was a previous Research Fellow of UNU-IIGH after working for WHO and JICA. He is a well-known expert on disaster mental health and a core member of developing Psychological First Aid (PFA) and its subsequent training modules. He played a key role in the push for the inclusion of mental health and well-being in the SDGs and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. He has published a number of papers on disaster mental health in Lancet, Social Science & Medicine, among others.
2. Dr Eizaburo Tanaka is a psychiatrist as well as a researcher in disaster mental health at Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress. He engaged in mental health and psychosocial support activities for affected people by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake, and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake in Japan. His research interest includes child & adolescent survivors’ mental health.

To apply for the workshop:

Please find attached the workshop brochure, including participant application form. Having completed the participant details, please email to iigh-training@unu.edu In order to ensure that the workshop is a manageable and effective size, it will be limited to 25 participants only. Hence, do submit your application form early, even if the dateline is on 11 August.