LocationsRecovery starts with the mind
Hope, trust and healing
October 9, 2025
Hotline counsellor Maryna Marks provides free psychological support to Ukrainians at home and abroad. Mental health is the cornerstone of UNDP's programmes to rebuild lives and communities in conflict-affected regions across the world.
Photo: UNDP Ukraine/Danylo Pavlov
When a disaster like an earthquake strikes or a conflict or war drags on for years, the world often focuses on what’s visible--homes, markets and infrastructure. But what about the people? The deepest wounds, like trauma, stress and broken social trust, are often invisible. Without healing these, true recovery remains an illusion.
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) is the cornerstone of rebuilding lives and communities. It remains one of the most underfunded and overlooked aspects of crisis response. Communities heal when individuals heal, feel hopeful about their future and can build trust in institutions again. Happier communities can lay the foundation of peace and economic stability.
At UNDP, we integrate MHPSS across crisis response and recovery programmes, ensuring that people and communities have the psychological and social support to rebuild. This World Mental Health Day, here’s a look at how some of these efforts help restore trust, rebuild hope and heal communities.
Rebuilding trust
In fragile and post-conflict states, trust is often the first casualty. Without it, governance weakens, reconciliation stalls and communities struggle to rebuild. MHPSS plays a crucial role in repairing these fractures and restoring a sense of safety and social cohesion.
In South Sudan, decades of conflict have left deep emotional scars on individuals and communities. UNDP developed a community-led MHPSS approach and organized a series of trainings for local community volunteers in trauma awareness and psychosocial support. This enabled women leaders and participants to share lessons in their communities, going house to house to help resolve trauma-linked conflicts. It also raised awareness among local leaders about their role in promoting harmony and rebuilding trust. The goal was to ensure that peacebuilding efforts addressed both visible and invisible wounds.
Finding strength to carry on
Women and girls are often hit hardest by conflict.
In Gaza, UNDP’s Programme for Assistance of the Palestinian People has been working with women-led organizations to support women and girls. The work includes psychosocial support to displaced and affected people, addressing their immediate emotional and psychological needs.
“This helped me realize that I'm not alone and that there are ways to deal with everything I've been through,” said Nisrin, 31. Unfortunately, the situation continues to deteriorate and this programme was impacted by the breakdown of the ceasefire. The team however continues to support women, including through psychosocial first aid sessions. “I learned a lot from it, and we did activities that changed my mood and made me forget the difficult time my children and I had been through,” said Kafa, another participant. The effort is a drop in an ocean compared to what is required to help Palestinian women find the strength to carry on and continue to hope for a better tomorrow.
UNDP's work in Gaza includes psychosocial support to displaced people, addressing their immediate emotional and psychological needs.
Photo: UNDP PAPP
Restoring hope
The escalation of hostilities in September 2024 in Lebanon caused widespread destruction and mass displacement, further straining Lebanon’s already dire socio-economic situation.
Many displaced families sought refuge in collective shelters where daily life was marked by overcrowding, stress and uncertainty about the future. To support them UNDP created safe and inclusive spaces that helped children and parents process trauma together. Eighty children and their families took part in storytelling, music, rhythm games and creative workshops. These activities allowed children to express their feelings, reflect on the meaning of home, and find comfort in play, while parents learned supportive ways to strengthen family bonds and coping strategies in times of crisis.
UNDP also equipped frontline workers in informal settlements, known as Palestinian Gatherings, one of the most vulnerable and marginalized host communities in Lebanon, with its Arabic Psychological First Aid Toolkit. During the conflict, more than 60 social workers, animators, and paramedics used the toolkit to assist over 1,300 displaced adults and children, offering psychological support, stress management and referrals for specialized care. A self-help handbook for healthcare workers further addressed trauma, grief and caregiver wellbeing.
Coping with anxiety and trauma
War brings anxiety and trauma. In Ukraine, UNDP aims to help people cope with the current situation, from anxiety and uncertainty to the loss of loved ones.
A free mental health hotline is serving Ukrainians both inside the country and across 21 nations, including Poland, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. For many this has become a vital lifeline, offering immediate access to trained counsellors who listen, provide guidance and connect people with further support when needed.
Equally important, UNDP supports first responders by providing targeted assistance to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and to police units. These teams are equipped with vehicles and resources that allow them to reach affected communities directly, delivering emergency psychological aid. This ensures that people who might otherwise remain isolated can still access timely mental health support.
After earning a psychology degree in Kirkuk, Hanin Ibrahim Hussein returned to Mosul in 2018 to counsel trauma victims at a UNDP-supported health centre.
Photo: UNDP Iraq
Healing communities
Early recovery after a crisis is more than just rebuilding roads, jobs and livelihoods, it’s about healing trauma, fostering inclusion and reconnecting communities.
For Hanin Ibrahim Hussein, a psychologist from Mosul, Iraq, returning to help others was deeply personal. As a child, she was smuggled out of the city with her father. When he returned to Mosul to rescue her mother and brothers, she feared she would never see him again.
After earning her psychology degree in Kirkuk, Hanin returned to Mosul in 2018 to counsel trauma victims at a UNDP-supported health centre. Many of those she helps spent years under Islamic State rule or in displacement camps, struggling to rebuild their lives.
Her story is one of thousands, showing how local leadership and emotional resilience form the backbone of recovery.
Investing in recovery of mind
These stories reveal a deeper truth. MHPSS is not only about care. It is an investment in brain capital, the individual and collective cognitive, emotional and social assets that fuel resilience, productivity and innovation.
Despite its pivotal role, MHPSS remains critically underfunded. Depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy US$1 trillion annually, while globally, less than 2 percent of health funding is allocated to mental health.
There is strong evidence that mental health and community support helps people recover from crises, but it still receives far less funding than other kinds of humanitarian aid. Research demonstrates that for every US$1 invested in MHPSS, societies can save up to $6 long-term. Countries emerging from conflict often allocate less than 1 percent of their health budgets to mental health, despite the high prevalence of trauma-related disorders.
By neglecting mental well-being, we risk undermining progress across the board, from economic stability to effective governance and robust social resilience.
At UNDP, we are committed to leading this transformation. But we cannot do it alone. It is time to scale up investments in MHPSS and ensure that mental well-being is at the heart of all crisis recovery and resilience efforts. Only by addressing the full spectrum of recovery, physical, economic, and psychological, can we build stronger, healthier and more resilient communities.
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