Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of forcibly displaced populations

Datum
22. Okto­ber 2025 

Online sem­i­nar (Refugee Men­tal Health and Place Series)

Sup­port­ing the men­tal health and well­be­ing of forcibly dis­placed populations
Online sem­i­nar, Refugee Men­tal Health and Place Series
Guest: Prof Ross White
When: 22 Octo­ber 2025 16:00 to 17:30 BST
Where: Online

Reg­is­tra­tion: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/supporting-the-mental-health-and-wellbeing-of-forcibly-displaced-populations

Abstract

The Unit­ed Nations High Com­mis­sion­er for Refugees (UNHCR) esti­mat­ed that as of 2024 there were 122.6 mil­lion who have been forcibly dis­placed from their homes across the globe. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have led to a fur­ther marked increase in these num­bers. Men­tal health dif­fi­cul­ties have been shown to be ele­vat­ed in forcibly dis­placed peo­ple (includ­ing asy­lum seek­ing and refugee pop­u­la­tions). Risk fac­tors can be asso­ci­at­ed with events that occurred pri­or to, dur­ing, and after a person’s migra­to­ry jour­ney. Whilst there is recog­ni­tion of the impor­tant impact that a his­to­ry of trau­mat­ic events (e.g. tor­ture, abuse and neglect) can have, social adver­si­ty in the form of ‘dai­ly stres­sors’ (e.g. a lack of access to basic resources, iso­la­tion, lack of safe­ty and secu­ri­ty, fam­i­ly vio­lence) is being increas­ing­ly recog­nised as an impor­tant fac­tor influ­enc­ing the men­tal health of forcibly dis­placed peo­ple. Con­cerns have been raised about the poten­tial med­ical­iza­tion of social dif­fi­cul­ties faced by dis­placed pop­u­la­tions. There has also been a com­par­a­tive lack of research inves­ti­gat­ing approach­es that may be poten­tial­ly help­ful for sup­port­ing forcibly dis­placed people’s men­tal health and well­be­ing. Prof. White’s pre­sen­ta­tion will focus on research that he has con­duct­ed in rela­tion to 1) The devel­op­ment of assess­ment mea­sures for eval­u­at­ing the men­tal health and well­be­ing of forcibly dis­placed peo­ple; 2) The eval­u­a­tion of inter­ven­tions for sup­port­ing the men­tal health and well­be­ing of forcibly dis­placed people.

About the speaker

Dr Ross White is Pro­fes­sor of Clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gy at QUB. He has exper­tise in Glob­al Men­tal Health and is par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in under­stand­ing and address­ing fac­tors impact­ing the men­tal health and well­be­ing of forcibly dis­placed pop­u­la­tions. He has col­lab­o­rat­ed with the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion and the Unit­ed Nations High Com­mis­sion­er for Refugees in devel­op­ing and eval­u­at­ing psy­choso­cial inter­ven­tions for refugees. Ross was the lead author of The Pal­grave Hand­book of Socio­cul­tur­al Per­spec­tives of Glob­al Men­tal Health (Pal­grave MacMil­lan). He also has a keen research inter­est in sup­port­ing the men­tal health and well­be­ing of adults work­ing in high-per­for­mance envi­ron­ments includ­ing elite lev­el ath­letes. In 2024, he authored a pop­u­lar sci­ence book enti­tled The Tree That Bends: How a Flex­i­ble Mind can help you thrive He is an Asso­ci­a­tion of Con­tex­tu­al Behav­iour­al Sci­ence peer-reviewed train­er of Accep­tance and Com­mit­ment Therapy.

For more infor­ma­tion and reg­is­tra­tion, please fol­low this link:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/supporting-the-mental-health-and-wellbeing-of-forcibly-displaced-populations