Mainstreaming psychological first aid response during disaster events in Nepal

Mental health and psychosocial intervention to disaster events is comparatively new and growing concept in Nepal, which often gets neglected during the emergencies. Though the government has acknowledged the importance of mental health components, psychosocial intervention still deserves the long journey to be mainstreamed in disaster response. In this context, Japan International Support Program (JISP) and IsraAID Nepal implemented a project aimed at providing psychosocial intervention skills to the community people and local organizations working in the core areas of Kathmandu city. The program provided series of comprehensive training on psychological first aid to different homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. Through the community follow up trainings and organizing joint workshops together, participants have acquired the PFA knowledge and skills, which is crucial while responding to the disaster events in country like Nepal where the challenges associated with the disaster emergency refuses to end.   Key words: Disaster, Nepal, psychological first aid, psychosocial intervention, trainings.