Thirty government officials, and participants from INGOs, NGOs, Vietnam Red Cross from 9 provinces in Vietnam will join in Hanoi on 16 July 2013 to launch Vietnams first Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergencies Training Program. Post-launch, the participants will receive training on Psychosocial Response to Disasters with a focus on Children & Teaching Recovery Techniques during the following week at the Hanoi School of Public Health.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) together with its technical partner agency, the Center for Crisis Psychology (CCP) Norway, and in collaboration with the Hanoi School of Public Health (HSPH) and Vietnam National University (VNU)s Center for Research, Information and Services in Psychology (CRISP) will jointly launch the program. The program is considered a milestone for mental health and psychosocial support in Vietnam, as there is momentarily limited support for victims in this area in times of emergency.

The course reaches out to Vietnams professionals that specifically work with children and those that are suitable candidates to act as mental health and psychosocial support counselors to children disaster victims. Participants namely include school teachers, social workers, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists and health workers. With a commitment to actively learn, course participants expect to be able to apply their knowledge gained in disaster response scenarios, especially to deal with children victims mental health and psychosocial support.

" Stereotypes include that having strong reactions to traumatic events is a sign of weakness and shameful. Whatever stereotypes there are, I believe that knowledge and openness are keys to overcome them. I think that sharing and using good research is crucial," said Madam Ragnhild Dybdahl, Ph.D. Deputy Head of Mission, Royal Norwegian Embassy Vietnam.

Media professionals interested in the development of mental health and psychosocial support in times of emergency in Vietnam are encouraged to attend this event. Media will have the opportunity to engage a wide-range of related professionals in mental health, and better understand recent efforts in Vietnam to overcome associated stereotypes.