FUTURE

A global network of reFUgees TraUmatic stress REsearch

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Project group 

PI: Marit Sijbrandij1, Anke Witteveen1, Anne de Graaff1, Alessandro Massazza2 - See full network below.

1) VU University Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology, and WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Dissemination of Psychological Interventions, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2) London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

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Background

Due to recent and ongoing crises, including war and climate change, the number of refugees and displaced populations has seen an unprecedented increase, with almost 80 million people internally or externally displaced by the end of 2019, which is approximately 1% of the world’s population (UNHCR, 2020). Most refugees are hosted by countries in the area close to the countries people originally fled from, such as Turkey, Uganda, Colombia and Pakistan. The past two decades have witnessed a huge growth of research interest in mental health problems including posttraumatic stress disorder across refugee populations. Studies have been conducted in high income settings, as well as in low- and middle-income settings or humanitarian settings, although the number of studies carried out by researchers from high income settings is still much higher than studies that have been carried out by local research teams.

It is imperative that strong collaborations between researchers in the area of refugee mental health and traumatic stress worldwide are formed. This may facilitate sustainable exchange between research groups and settings. Practices for the prevention and treatment of mental disorders that may have proven effective in a specific setting, may be transferred to other settings. In addition, it is important that culturally adapted innovative prevention and treatment strategies are evaluated in other settings where the need for these interventions is highest.

Currently, there are established networks for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and global collaborations for global mental health, but there is no global network for researchers on refugee mental health or traumatic stress. The Global Collaboration of Traumatic Stress is establishing a worldwide network of researchers in the field of traumatic stress in refugees, migrants, and displaced populations.

Aims

The aim of establishing the FUTURE (ReFUgees TraUmatic stress REsearch) network is to facilitate collaboration and exchange between researchers worldwide who are conducting studies in refugee and displaced populations. The aim is to connect research teams working in humanitarian settings, low-resource settings, and high income settings. We encourage to share data, knowledge, expertise, instruments and tools.

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Planning

Within the next two months, the project group will approach researchers in the area of refugee mental health for participation in the network.

Contact

Collaborators are Welcome (CAW)! 

Would you like to become part of the FUTURE network?

If you are a refugee mental health researcher or practitioner interested in research, you can also sign up for this network. Please contact Anke Witteveen (a.b.witteveen@vu.nl).

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Network members

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• Ahlke Kip; Morina Lab, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Germany

• Alessandro Massazza; Mental Health Team Welcome Trust / Centre for Global Mental Health at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

• Angela Nickerson; Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program, UNSW, Sydney, Australia

• Anke Witteveen ; Clinical, Neuro-, and Developmental Psychology (Global Mental Health team) and WHO collaborating center, VU University Amsterdam

• Anna Bjarta; AMIR - Assessment of Mental health and early Intervention for Refugees, Mid Sweden University, Department of Psychology and Social work, Sweden

• Anne de Graaff; Clinical, Neuro-, and Developmental Psychology (Global Mental Health team) and WHO collaborating center, VU University Amsterdam and WHO Mental Health and Substance Use, Geneve, Switzerland

• Arash Javanbakht; Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, USA

• Ashraf Kagee; Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

• Brian Hall; Center for Global Health Equity, New York University, Shanghai, China

• Catherine Panter-Brick; Yale University Conflict, Resilience, and Health, USA

• Ceren Acartürk; Trauma and Stress Studies Lab, Koc University Istanbul, Turkey

• Christine Knaevelsrud; Transcultural Clinical Psychology & Psychotraumatology Freie University Berlin

• Corrado Barbui; WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Verona, Italy

• Daniela Fuhr; Centre for Global Mental Health, Department of Prevention and Evaluation Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology

• Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz; MENTE, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

• Eva Heim; Psychologie clinique Culturelle, Lausanne, Switzerland

• Frank Neuner; Clinical Psychology at Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

• Iryna Frankova; ECNP Traumatic Stress Network, Utrecht, The Netherlands

• Ivan Komproe; HealthNet TPO, the Netherlands

• Jiaqing O; Health and Social Sciences Cluster, Singapore Institute of Technology

• Jordan Snyder; University of Wisconsin, Parkside Global Community Wellness Lab

• Karen-Inge Karstoft; Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

• Kerstin Spanhel; Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University of Freiburg, Germany

• Laura Shields; Mental Health and Prevention (Trimbos Institute), the Netherlands

• Lorenzo Tarsitani; Migration Psychiatry Unit, Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• Maria Melchior; ERES (Equipe de Recherche en Epidémiologie Sociale), INSERM & Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

• Marie Høgh Thøgersen; Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) Research Group, Copenhagen, Denmark

• Marit Sijbrandij; Clinical, Neuro-, and Developmental Psychology (Global Mental Health team) and WHO collaborating center, VU University Amsterdam

• Mark Jordans; War Child Research and Development Department, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Miranda Olff; Center for Psychological Trauma, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam& ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, The Netherlands

• Mirrian Hilbink; Psychotraumacentrum Zuid Nederland (Reinier van Arkel), The Netherlands

• Mohamed Elshazly; Independent MHPSS consultant, Cairo, Egypt

• Nawaraj Upadhaya; HealthRight International, New York, USA

• Olena Khaustova; UPMA, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine

• Paula Foscarini-Craggs; Peer-MIST; Developing Peer Led Movement-based Intervention to Improve Physical and Psychological Outcomes for Survivors of Torture and Trauma in Wales and Beyond; Cardiff University, UK

• Perjan Hashim Taha; University of Duhok, Iraq

• Richard Bryant; University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

• Ross White; Migrant Mental Health and Wellbeing Group, Queen's University Belfast, UK

• Ruth Wells ; University of New South Wales, Sydney, Trauma and Mental Health Unit

• Safa Kaptan; Global Mental Health and Cultural Psychiatry Research Group, Manchester, UK

• Sharon Abramowitz; Global Mental Health Initiative at Georgetown University

• Simon Groen ; GGZ Drenthe Mental Health Care, the Netherlands

• Solfrid Raknes; The Helping Hand: field work in Lebanon, Jordan, Tanzania.

• Stefan Jansen; Mental Health & Behaviour, University of Rwanda

• Tanya Tandon; iREACH Lab, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

• Talya Greene; University College London, UK

• Tobias Hecker; Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology at Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

• Ulrich Schnyder; Emeritus professor, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland

• Wietse Tol; University of Copenhagen

• Yesim Erim; Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy Department, Mental Health of Refugees and Labor Migrants, Intercultural Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

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