Forced Migration Review issue 66 – to be published in February 2021 – will include a feature on Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). 
 
Deadline for submissions: Monday 19th October 2020 
 
Full call for articles online at www.fmreview.org/mental-health  
 
Being displaced may mean disruption to treatment for pre-existing mental health disorders, or new challenges to obtaining treatment while on the move or while in a host community. Other displaced people may experience symptoms of mental ill health that have developed as a result of their displacement or the events that precipitated it. Refugees and internally displaced people may look to various sources of informal, non-clinical social support or, where difficulties exceed their own coping mechanisms and informal support, need to access other more specific types of mental health and psychosocial support. The effects of conflict and of disaster on training facilities, clinics and displacement of staff may contribute, however, to demand for services vastly outstripping supply. And where provision is available, displaced people may encounter difficulties in accessing what services are available.  
 
We are looking for concise, pertinent, practice-oriented submissions that present analysis, lessons and good practice with wide relevance. In particular, the FMR Editors are looking for submissions that reflect a diverse range of experience and opinions and which address questions such as the following: 
 
What is known about the prevalence and nature of the MHPSS needs of those who have been displaced, and of responses to them? What are the particular challenges to conducting research in some areas and key gaps in knowledge?  
 
How can the effectiveness of support be appropriately assessed in displacement contexts?  
 
Have certain kinds of approaches proved more effective than others in providing appropriate support in situations where there are insufficient resources – infrastructure, personnel or financial – to meet large-scale and/or long-term MHPSS needs?  
 
What barriers are there to integrating basic mental health care into primary health-care settings in emergency contexts where MHPSS provision is otherwise limited or does not exist, and what good practice exists in addressing these barriers?  
 
Are there specific challenges to providing MHPSS for displaced people who are still on the move? What examples exist of good practice in cooperation across regional or country borders? 
 
How can the experience and expertise built up by local communities of practice in the area of mental health inform programming that is executed at a much larger scale? 
 
How do the MHPSS needs of displaced people differ across different settings – in systems of asylum, in resettlement, in integration and in return? What steps can be taken to promote resilience and to enable those who have been displaced to maintain psychosocial well-being, including on their return after displacement? 
 
How effective are community-based means of psychosocial support such as those provided by faith communities? Have community-based models proven more successful in certain contexts, or in meeting specific certain needs over others? 
 
What is the role of cultural mediators in assisting displaced people to access care? Can such mediators be effective in tackling stigma around mental ill-health, including among hard-to-reach groups?  
 
Given that cultural bias (among practitioners, policymakers, researchers and hosts) may create barriers to the effective, appropriate, non-discriminatory identification of need for and provision of MHPSS services, how can this be recognised and mitigated for?  
 
What part do new communication technologies have to play in the identification of needs and delivery of care? What are the settings in which such technologies have proven effective and what forms do these take? 
 
How are existing guidelines and tools such as the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings and the WHO/UNHCR Assessing Mental Health and Psychosocial Needs and Resources toolkit for humanitarian settings applied across various contexts and how do they shape provision?  
 
What requirements do those designing policy and programming need to take into account in relation to MHPSS service provision for displaced people and for host communities, and what are the challenges emerging from creating parallel structures?   
 
What design and delivery choices must be considered so that MHPSS programming takes into consideration the specific needs of certain groups including children and youth, older people, those living with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ individuals? 
 
Are there examples of effective provision from humanitarian agencies in supporting the psychosocial well-being and MHPSS needs of staff working in situations of displacement and with survivors of displacement?  
 
In what ways has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the provision of MHPSS to displaced people, and how have those providing MHPSS been able to adapt to the challenges presented? What has proven critical to the continuance of the effective delivery of services? 
 
If you are interested in contributing, please first email the Editors at [log in to unmask] with a few sentences about your proposed topic so that we can provide feedback and let you know if we are interested in receiving your submission.  

Marion Couldrey & Jenny Peebles, FMR Editors  
[log in to unmask]  www.fmreview.org
Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford 
Read the latest FMR issue on Climate crisis & local communities / Trafficking & smuggling / COVID-19: https://www.fmreview.org/issue64 
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