World Mental Health Day October 10
Protection Includes Mental Health
Nonviolent Peaceforc
(October 9, 2026) — In conflict settings, trauma and exhaustion don’t just harm wellbeing. They shape security decisions, erode the capacity to keep going, and can fuel cycles of violence.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, explore how Nonviolent Peaceforce has integrated mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS) into our work of unarmed civilian protection.
Protecting Those Who Stay
A Practical Guide to Holistic Duty of Care
The people who carry the most risk in humanitarian response are those who stay: local responders, volunteers, and mutual aid groups working in their own communities. Too often, they do it without the protective equipment, insurance, psychosocial support, or evacuation options that international staff take for granted.
Drawing on our work alongside frontline responders in Ukraine since 2022, the brief sets out how physical, technical, psychosocial, and operational safety can be built into partnerships from the start, not added after an incident. It also sets out how these principles are being adapted across the very different contexts where we work, from Sudan and South Sudan to Myanmar and the DRC.
Read the Brief: https://nonviolentpeaceforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Duty-of-Care-Sept-2026.pdf
Psychosocial Protection in Humanitarian Crises
A proactive response to emotional and traumatic stress
The physical safety and mental health of people experiencing violence are deeply intertwined. This brief details the importance of integrating MHPSS in peacebuilding, the case for using UCP as a pathway for psychosocial protection, and NP’s Peer Welfare Program—a peer to peer approach for early psychological interventions built for nonspecialized personnel, primarily using Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy-based early interventions.
NP’s Peer Welfare Program has increasingly been adopted by frontline workers and local partners in Ukraine (📹 Watch here: Mental Health and Resilience in Ukraine) and applied through a proactive psychosocial protection emergency response in Myanmar.
How Ukrainian War Veterans Are Recovering
From War Injuries Through Adaptive Sports
From their own experiences, Arsen Riaboshapko and Illia Pylypenko recognize the impact movement and sports can have in restoring physical health, building community, and supporting transition into civilian life. Together, they cofounded the civil society organization, Vilny Voiny (Ukrainian for “Free Warriors”), to lift the barriers to sports for injured veterans like themselves.
Supporting veteran reintegration is not only a humanitarian priority but also an investment in long-term social stability and peace. Nonviolent Peaceforce continues to partner with Vilny Voiny to improve access to veteran reintegration services, like adaptive sports. (📹 Watch here: Strengthening Communities Through Veterans Reintegration)
