Paper details
| Paper authors | Bahar Muratoğlu Pehlivan, Gül Esra Atalay, Lucy Bassett, Nurper Ülküer, Seher Sav |
| In panel on | MHPSS in Crisis Zones: Psychosocial Liberation through Local Knowledge and Decolonised Practice |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Standardized, clinic driven mental health responses often obscure the political and cultural realities that shape children’s post disaster distress. Following the 6 February 2023 earthquakes in southern Türkiye and northern Syria, our trans regional team co created a child led project that reframes MHPSS around local knowledge and collective care.
Using photovoice, twenty three displaced children (ages 5–10) in two container camps became co researchers: they photographed daily life and then guided conversations about each image. Their images and narratives surfaced ideas for ways to improve their mental health and resilience in the constrained conditions of the container camps where they will be forced to live throughout their childhood.
Their insights challenge dominant trauma response models by foregrounding children’s own definitions of safety, belonging, and healing. We translate their priorities into three community driven MHPSS principles: (1) reclaiming safe play and creative spaces for collective healing; (2) integrating nature into psychosocial programming; and (3) embedding child led decision forums within camp governance for ongoing input into MHPSS activities. Our findings illustrate psychosocial liberation in practice, demonstrating how locally grounded, participatory methods can realign humanitarian MHPSS toward ethical, context sensitive healing in protracted crises.
