World Mental Health Day: Q and A with Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson, specialising in International Criminal Law, has previously worked with NGOs in Rwanda and Jamaica, focusing on cases involving genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and human rights. In recognition of World Mental Health Day, RLC spoke with Dan about his pro bono work as Chair of the charity AMNA and the impact of mental health on refugee communities.

Picture Credit: AMNA  

1. How does AMNA address the unique mental health challenges faced by refugees, and what key services do you provide to support their well-being?

The mental health challenges refugees face stem from the profoundly difficult and destabilizing experience of displacement. Having been forced to leave behind their homes, lands, and communities, many people remain in transit for years, living in

uncertainty often with little access to basic services such as food, shelter, and safety. This prolonged instability is compounded by experiences of racism, discrimination, violence, and persecution, which can lead to exclusion from society and impact their mental well-being. Even when refugees find themselves in relatively safer environments, the loss, dislocation, and hypervigilance live on in their bodies, years after they first had to leave their homes.

At Amna, we address these unique mental health challenges by providing tailored, evidence-based, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive community-based psychosocial care. We recognize the urgent need for specialized support that fosters healing in displaced communities. By partnering with local community organizations, we train non-therapeutic specialists to deliver non-clinical, community-based interventions designed to help displaced people who have experienced violence and forced displacement start to feel safe again.

In addition, we work to strengthen systems of care so that frontline workers—such as migration officers, social workers, and teachers—are equipped to provide identity and trauma-informed care. This approach prevents further harm to displaced individuals and ensures that psychosocial support is woven into every aspect of their interactions with system actors. At Amna, our mission is to build the capacity for psychosocial healing within communities, enabling refugees to regain a sense of safety, rebuild their resilience and reconnect with feelings of joy and belonging.

2. Given the stigma around mental health in many refugee communities, how does AMNA work to create safe and open environments for individuals to seek help?

Amna creates safe and open environments by designing interventions that are culturally relevant and community-oriented, ensuring that the unique cultural, social, and historical contexts of displaced populations are considered. We move away from clinical and Eurocentric approaches, that prioritize individual therapy which may be alienating and ineffective. We work closely with local community organizations and leaders, recognizing that they are the experts in their own healing processes. By inviting community members to help shape and lead parts of the sessions, we create spaces where individuals feel safe and supported, making it easier for them to engage with mental health care and begin their recovery from the psychological impacts of displacement and trauma.

3. What strategies has AMNA found most effective in building resilience and mental well-being among refugees who have experienced trauma?

We see psychosocial care as an essential part of emergency response and place joy and belonging at the center of our work as a way of countering oppression and violence. Communities under assault often experience a sense of disconnection and dissociation, so we invite them into spaces where connections to other people, themselves, and communities are nurtured. This is achieved through joyful activities that promote resilience and strength. Joy and belonging are resolute antidotes to the dehumanization faced by people under attack, and we counter this dehumanization through dance, music, art, and storytelling. In our trainings, we teach our community partners to facilitate sessions that promote emotional release, expression, and validation of experiences. These sessions invite a gentle returning to, soothing or awakening of the body. Healing in this context is very somatic and centered on supporting people to start feeling safer in their bodies. We incorporate healing play activities with children, youth, and adults, as well as psychosocial activities involving movement, music, storytelling, arts, and sensory experiences. Through these practices, participants are helped to return to their “window of tolerance” and build a “regulation toolkit” that they can carry with them on their onward journeys. Wherever possible, we promote refugee ownership, inviting community members to shape and lead parts of the sessions. We also harness rituals and practices that already exist within refugee communities, acknowledging that they are the experts in their own healing, not us.

4. For World Mental Health Day, what message would you like to share about the importance of mental health care for refugees and how the public can get involved in supporting AMNA’s mission?

On World Mental Health Day, it’s crucial to highlight the importance of mental health care for refugees. The trauma and chronic stress faced by displaced communities go far beyond physical survival, deeply affecting mental and emotional well-being, often leading to long-term psychological and physiological harm. Without culturally appropriate and responsive care, vulnerable communities—especially children, families, and frontline workers—are left to endure lifelong impacts of trauma.
At Amna, we are responding to this urgent need by training organizations working with people displaced as a result of crises in Ukraine, Lebanon and Palestine to deliver essential mental health and psychosocial support. Our approach focuses on establishing trauma-informed safe spaces, offering mental health care to frontline workers, and providing emergency training to first responders. We blend evidence-based practice with cultural traditions like rhythm, movement, and storytelling, helping communities release trauma and rebuild resilience. We believe in supporting local, refugee-led organizations because they have the knowledge and capacity to sustain care long after the immediate crisis. Right now, we are raising funds to respond to the emerging situation in Lebanon, where nearly one million people have been displaced. People can support our work by donating through our website [AMNA] This support will allow us to provide trauma-informed safe spaces, mental health care for frontline teams, and emergency training for first responders.