Global Human Rights & Mental Health Crisis. Today, more than 82 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution. A mental health crisis of trauma, loss and chronic stress has emerged in the wake of this geo-political crisis. This crisis has not only led to poor individual mental health outcomes such as PTSD and depression, but also intimate partner- and gender-based- violence, inter-generational transmission of trauma and stress to children, and the fragmentation forcibly displaced communities. To restore the human rights of refugees, we must ensure that they have the opportunity to heal from the trauma and injustice of forced displacement. Worse yet, not only has the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the urgency of this crisis, but radical climate change is projected to result in as many as 200 million to 1 billion forcibly displaced people by 2050. Refugee community leaders, scholars, and policy makers have thus made urgent calls for the development of specialized interventions tailored to the scale and complexity of the refugee global mental health crisis.
Mindfulness-Based Trauma Recovery for Refugees (MBTR-R). We therefore developed MBTR-R – a first-of-its-kind mindfulness- and compassion-based group intervention for refugees and asylum seekers. MBTR-R is trauma-sensitive and socio-culturally-adapted for diverse populations of forcibly displaced people. MBTR-R was designed to empower and enable forcibly displaced people to cultivate moments of inner refuge and safety from which healing and recovery may begin and hope may emerge.
Science with a Human Rights Mission. In a large randomized controlled study, we found that MBTR-R was not only safe but therapeutically transformative for even the most vulnerable African asylum seekers – including survivors of torture, human trafficking, and former child soldiers. MBTR-R led to large and significant reductions in chronic and debilitating mental health problems endemic to the trauma, loss and stress of forced displacement, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety (read full paper here). These therapeutic effects of MBTR-R may also have transformative multi-systemic effects to reduce and prevent intimate partner- and gender-based- violence, buffer inter-generational transmission of trauma and stress to children, and facilitate resilience among forcibly displaced communities.
Finally, in response to Covid-19, we developed and tested a prototype of an internet-supported mobile-health adaptation of MBTR-R – Mindfulness-SOS – to maximize reach and access of the intervention among the most isolated and vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers, locally and globally.
Moments of Refuge. We believe that we must now do all that we can to bring this novel intervention model to forcibly displaced communities around the world, to adapt and optimize its applications among diverse forcibly displaced populations and post-displacement settings, and to study and delineate its effects. We have therefore launched the Moments of Refuge Project – the first-ever global initiative to use mindfulness- and compassion-based training to empower forcibly displaced people to begin to heal and recover, prevent intimate partner- and gender-based- violence, buffer inter-generational transmission of trauma and stress among children, and re-build community capital and resilience post-displacement.
Furthermore, because the mental health crisis and the social injustice endemic to forced displacement are inextricably linked, MBTR-R can also be used as a social impact multiplier to augment, and thereby amplify the efficacy and impact, of global development programs and policies designed to promote social justice, equality and mobility. In these ways, Moments of Refuge may also have a very significant social impact return on investment.
Science with a Human Rights & Social Justice Mission. We believe strongly that the scientific foundation and approach to Moments of Refuge is critical to ensure its impact. Although our team believes that MBTR-R will prove to be a transformative and restorative innovation in refugee global mental health and social justice, our good intentions and even exciting findings to date are not enough. Thus, Moments is designed to allow us to transform the lives of forcibly displaced people, while concurrently rigorously monitoring, evaluating and thereby optimizing the efficacy and safety of MBTR-R as well as its access and reach. We believe that this approach will deliver the greatest possible social impact return on investment.
Moments of Refuge: Operations & Scaling-Up. Over the coming decade, we will systematically grow and scale-up Moments of Refuge through a network of collaborating scientific, implementation, and refugee community partners. Moments partner sites will reach forcibly displaced communities, from multiple origin countries and socio-cultural groups, multiple post-displacement settings (e.g., urban, refugee camp), and regions around the world including Europe (e.g. Italy, Germany), the Middle East (e.g. Jordan, Turkey), Africa (e.g. S. Africa, Uganda), and N. America (e.g. Texas, Boston). Moments will systematically invest in sites and partners with strong established on-the-ground relationships with local forcibly displaced communities. This is important to capitalize on existing resources and expertise, and to ensure that projects are effectively implemented locally.
Initial Moments network projects will focus on mental health and its destructive consequences for families, women and children; as well as projects and partnerships focused on the application of MBTR-R to augment, and thereby multiply the impact, of social justice, equality and mobility programs and policies.