Resilience in the Shadows

Mental Health of Vulnerable Refugees and Displaced Communities in Africa

Shahla Eltayeb, Unni Marie Heltne, Ragnhild Dybdahl (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

446 Seiten

2026
Springer Verlag, Singapore
978-981-95-5870-4 (ISBN)

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This volume offers a comprehensive exploration of the mental health challenges faced by vulnerable refugees and displaced communities—particularly children, women, and youth—from across the Horn of Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Somalia, and Ethiopia. It examines how displacement, poverty, cultural dislocation, and exposure to trauma profoundly shape mental well-being, highlighting the urgent need for tailored interventions and informed policy responses.

Bringing together perspectives from psychology, public health, social work, and humanitarian practice, the book provides a holistic understanding of the complex factors influencing mental health in crisis settings. It centers resilience, coping, and real-life interventions, offering practical strategies for mental health practitioners, humanitarian organizations, and policymakers working on the front lines.

Rich case studies and real-world examples illuminate the lived experiences and mental health needs of African refugees. Each chapter explores critical themes such as vulnerability in humanitarian contexts, culturally sensitive mental health interventions, long-term development, psychosocial support systems, gender-based violence, and community-centered healing. The book also underscores the value of low-threshold, accessible interventions in promoting recovery and overall well-being.

This book is an indispensable resource for mental health professionals, scholars, and students in psychology, social work, and related fields. It is equally valuable for policymakers, humanitarian workers, NGOs supporting refugees, and general readers seeking a deeper understanding of refugee mental health and resilience.

Shahla Eltayeb is a professor of psychology, an international research leader, and a mental health expert with more than two decades of experience working at the intersection of trauma and resilience. Her work bridges academic scholarship with deep engagement in real-world contexts shaped by adversity and conflict, particularly in Sudan and across diverse African settings. Holding a PhD from Maastricht University and a master's degree in health psychology from Leiden University, Eltayeb’s research and practice are grounded in culturally responsive approaches that center long-term psychological recovery. Drawing on sustained work in African and other low-resource contexts, she emphasizes locally informed pathways to healing that honor community knowledge and lived experience. As a writer and scholar, she is drawn to narratives that unfold beyond public attention where resilience is expressed quietly through endurance, adaptation, and connection. Her work reflects a sustained commitment to understanding resilience not as the absence of suffering, but as the capacity to live, rebuild, and find purpose amid profound challenges.

Mental health Realities in East African Humanitarian Settings.- Anchoring mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian responses: consolidation amidst ongoing challenges.- Soft Borders and Hard Realities: Humanitarian Provision and Protection Challenges for Refugees in East Africa.- Scaling MHPSS Interventions: Key Dilemmas and Pathways Forward.- Linking Humanitarian Aid and Long-Term Development: Policy Implications and Strategic Recommendations.- African Refugee Cultural Identity: Influences on Resilience and Empowerment.- Strength in Resilience: Integrating Cultural and Social Approaches for Refugee Mental Health in Uganda.- The Refugee Family: The Dynamics of family adjustment and Social Cohesion.- Sexual violence in armed conflicts: a psychological and Human rights perspective.- From Survival to Resilience: Ethical and Culturally Grounded Approaches to Refugee Mental Health in Kenya.- Mental health and psychosocial support for Sudanese refugees in Chad: Overwhelming needs and underfunded humanitarian responses.- Providing Mental health Service in Somalia: Post Humanitarian Status.- Psychosocial challenges of Sudanese refugees in Cairo.- From Crisis to Resilience: SuDRO’s Community-Based Humanitarian Voluntarism Model.- Technical Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Working Group Case Study of Sudan.- Psychosocial Support through the Life Span.- Psychological Assessment in Humanitarian Conditions.- Low Threshold Interventions for Refugee Children.- Healing Through Stories: Narrative Exposure Therapy (KIDNET).- Peer to peer - support beyond borders: A virtual coffee break.- Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Interventions and Research in Humanitarian Settings: Ethical Considerations.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	5.5.2026
Zusatzinfo	16 Illustrations, color; 1 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Singapore
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
	Medizin / Pharmazie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
Schlagworte	African refugees • Gender-based violence • humanitarian aid agencies • low-income communities • Low-resource settings • mental health practices
ISBN-10	981-95-5870-0 / 9819558700
ISBN-13	978-981-95-5870-4 / 9789819558704
Zustand	Neuware