The Guidance and Regulations in Global Mental Health Practice

The chapter examines guidance and regulations for global mental health (GMH) practice that are coming from different sources because of the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of this work. For a mental health (MH) professional, the primary guidance comes from the professional code of ethics, which is necessary but may not be sufficient for navigating unprecedented and complex humanitarian situations. As a humanitarian actor, the GMH is committed to the core humanitarian values of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. Humanitarian principles provide aspirational guidance and offer directionality in an uncertainty, but they are poorly translated into operations and can produce moral dilemmas such as when remaining neutral during a conflict. Supplementary principles are designed to protect vulnerable people from all forms of abuse and exploitation by humanitarian aid workers. The second set of guidance comes from the Humanitarian Code of Conduct. It ensures professional and personal integrity and enforces the standards of professional behavior in humanitarian space. The operational model and guidance outlined in the IASC guidelines provide practical recommendations for conducting psychosocial services to the populations affected by humanitarian emergencies. The exercises offer the opportunity to practice applying aspirational and operational guidance when designing ethical MH and psychosocial interventions.