MHPSS.net 261d ago

‘Opening the Conversation’ was the first in a series of ‘Critical Dialogues’ on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) [app.mhpss.net/criticaldialogues]. This first dialogue began with a panel that explored the broad scope of critical issues confronting MHPSS today and situated these within the broader evolution of the field, through a conversation with a panel of practitioners with very different trajectories (Moses Mukasa Bwesige, RIna Ghafoerkhan and Mike Wessells, moderated by Ananda Galappatti). It then ‘opened the conversation’ with approx 150 participants through discussions in breakout rooms responding to the panel’s discussion and shaping the focus of the future ‘critical dialogue’ sessions in this series. The ‘Critical Dialogues in MHPSS’ series was organised by an interdisciplinary cross-regional collective of practitioners, academics and allies who participated in a conference on “Transforming Power Dynamics in MHPSS Localisation”, organised by Terre des hommes on World Mental Health Day in October 2024 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&t=3039&v=oODTguGHklc]. United by a wish to continue and broaden discussions about the future of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in contexts of crisis, adversity and inequity, they launched this series of conversations to create space for reflection, critique, and forward-thinking about the field. These ‘critical dialogues’ aim to convene genuine conversations to explore how power, politics and practice intersect in MHPSS, and on how to foster approaches that are community-rooted, justice-informed, and fundamentally transformative both of the lives of affected people and efforts to support them. This initiative is also taking place within the context of the recent financial and structural crisis in the humanitarian sector, reinforcing the urgency to explore more just, sustainable, and accountable pathways forward.