Overview

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.

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9789819558704

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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.

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