This document outlines a training on providing psychosocial support through education in emergencies. The training objectives are to define key terms related to psychosocial well-being, identify the effects of stress, and provide examples of psychosocial support interventions. The training is based on INEE guidance and involves group activities to explore well-being, stress, psychosocial support, and developing action plans for interventions.

1. Psychosocial Support through
Education in Emergencies
Facilitating psychosocial well-being and social and
emotional learning
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This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. It is attributed to the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).

2. Training Objectives
By the end of the training, participants will be able to:
● Define key terms related to psychosocial well-being and support
● Identify symptoms of stress
● Explain the effects of stress on learning and development
● Give examples of how emergencies can affect the psychosocial
well-being of children and young people
● Identify examples of psychosocial support (PSS) and social and
emotional learning (SEL) interventions in education settings
● Develop an action plan for improving PSS and SEL interventions
in education settings
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3. INEE Guidance Note on
Psychosocial Support
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Training based on the following documents:
INEE Background Paper on
Psychosocial Support and
Social and Emotional
Learning for Children and
Youth in Emergency Settings

4. Group Activity: Stand and Declare
Listen to the questions. Move to the side of the room that
corresponds to your answer.
NO ←
→ YES
1. Have you worked in a humanitarian context?
2. Have you worked as a teacher or learning facilitator?
3. Have you worked in education programme planning?
4. Have you attended a training on psychosocial support
or social and emotional learning before?
5. Do you have experience providing psychosocial support
in a humanitarian crisis? 4

5. Session 1:
Well-being
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6. 6
What do we need to feel well?

7. Environmental disasters often cause a direct threat to life, ongoing
destruction of infrastructure, and high levels of stress and tension.
Human-made disasters often lead to prolonged conflict and chronic
emergency. They do not necessarily cause acute life threats, but rather
ongoing tension and persistent fear.
Both disrupt every aspect of daily living, including housing, health,
sanitation, recreation, and education. They disrupt family relationships
and social cohesion and create feelings of uncertainty, fear, anger and
loss.
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How do humanitarian crises affect
psychosocial well-being?

8. Group Activity: Well-being
Discuss in your groups:
● How do these activities support well-being?
● How would people’s well-being be affected if they could
no longer do these activities?
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1 2 3
4 5
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9. Session 2:
Stress
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10. Group Discussion: What is stress?
1. What are some situations that you find stressful?
2. How do you feel physically when you are stressed?
3. How do you feel emotionally when you are stressed?
4. How do you act when you are stressed? (ex: Do you bite your
nails?)
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11. 11
Categorizing stress symptoms
Physical symptoms refer to reactions happening in your
body. (example: headaches)
Emotional symptoms refer to your feelings and state of
mind. (example: feeling overwhelmed)
Cognitive symptoms refer to your ability to think and
process information. (example: difficulty focusing)
Behavioral symptoms refer to the way in which you act.
(example: nail biting)

12. 12
Categorizing stress symptoms
physical
how your body feels
emotional
your feelings and state of
mind
cognitive
how you think and process
information
behavioral
your actions

13. 13

14. 14
Coping with Stress
Imagine you are a refugee learner. You are in a new
place without your family, attending a new school with
new people and a new curriculum.
● What are some positive ways you can cope with that
stress?
● What are some negative ways you can cope that
stress?
🖉

15. Resilience is the capacity to
cope with stress and adapt to
challenges. Resilience
happens when protective
factors that support well-
being are stronger than risk
factors that cause harm.
What are some factors that
increase resilience?
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Resilience
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16. Stress in crisis contexts
Discuss with a partner:
1. How would you describe the disaster and crisis
situations you have lived/worked in?
2. What kind of influences did the crisis have on people’s
lives and daily living?
3. What kind of stress symptoms did you observe in your
surroundings?
4. What stress symptoms did you observe in your own
behaviour?
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17. Session 3:
PSS and SEL
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18. 18

19. Psychosocial Support (PSS)
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Processes & actions that promote holistic well-being
Sense of
belonging
Relationship
with peers
Personal
attachments
Intellectual
stimulation
Physical
stimulation
To feel
valued
NEEDS
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20. Psychosocial Support Needs and
Interventions
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Children’s Needs Possible Psychosocial Interventions
A Sense of
Belonging
Establish an educational structure where children feel included.
Promote the restoration of cultural, traditional practices of childcare, whenever possible.
Relationships with
Peers
Provide a dependable, interactive routine, through school or other organized educational activity.
Offer group and team activities (i.e., sports, drama etc.) that requires cooperation and dependence on
one another.
Personal
Attachments
Enlist teachers that can form appropriate caring relationships with children.
Provide opportunities for social integration and unity by teaching and showing respect for all cultural
values, regardless of differing backgrounds.
Intellectual
Stimulation
Enhance child development by providing a variety of educational experiences.
Physical Stimulation Encourage recreational and creative activities, both traditional and new, through games, sports, music,
dance etc.
To Feel Valued Create opportunities for expression through individual/group discussions, drawing, writing, drama, music
etc. which promote pride and self-confidence
Recognize, encourage and praise children

21. Psychosocial Support
Interventions can PROMOTE WELLBEING and can be...
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when they
decrease the risk
of developing
mental health
problems
when they help
overcome and deal
with psychosocial
problems
PREVENTIVE CURATIVE
OR
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22. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
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Process that fosters the development of competencies
Self-
awareness
Relationship
building
Self-
management
Social
awareness
Responsible
decision-making
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23. ● Find a partner.
● Describe the term on your paper. Your partner will
guess which term you are describing.
● When both partners have described and guessed
the terms on their papers, exchange papers.
● Find a NEW partner.
● Repeat.
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Group Activity: Practicing Key Terms

24. Session 4:
PSS-SEL in Practice
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25. 25
Intervention Pyramid
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26. 26
PSS and SEL the Field
1. Where is the activity
taking place?
2. What is the activity?
3. Who is facilitating the
activity?
4. Who is benefiting
from the activity?
5. How does this activity
support well-being?
6. What level of the
pyramid does this
activity address?
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27. Learning through case studies
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In your groups, read the case study assigned and discuss:
● What PSS/SEL interventions can you spot in this
study?
● What is the target group for the intervention? How do
they benefit?
● Who else could benefit from this intervention? How?
● Which level of the PSS-SEL pyramid does the
intervention fall within?

28. Session 5:
PSS-SEL Strategies
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29. INEE Minimum Standards
Domain 1: Foundational standards
Domain 2: Access and learning
environment
Domain 3: Teaching and learning
Domain 4: Teachers and other
education personnel
Domain 5: Education policy
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Promoting Psychosocial Well-being
through Education

30. Developing and improving
PSS and SEL strategies
Using the INEE Guidance Note on Psychosocial
Support, discuss the following questions about your
case study:
● How does your intervention address each of the
INEE Minimum Standards Domains?
● How does it fall short?
● How can it be improved?
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31. ● Choose a context that you have worked in or are
currently working in.
● Identify a target population.
○ What are their PSS and SEL needs?
○ What are some appropriate PSS and SEL
interventions that address those needs?
○ What are the anticipated outcomes of your
interventions?
○ What resources do you need to implement those
interventions?
○ What are some potential challenges to
implementing your intervention? How will you
address those challenges?
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Group Activity: Developing an Action Plan

32. Self-Reflection
● What are 3 things you learned today?
● What are 2 new ideas/strategies you will use in
your work?
● What is 1 question that you still have?
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33. Training
Evaluation
Thank you for participating!
Please help us improve this
training by completing the
training evaluation.
We welcome your feedback!
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34. www.inee.org
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