World Mental Health Day: Access to Services in Catastrophes and Emergencies
When the emergencies don’t end
For most of the world, the phrase “mental health in catastrophes and emergencies” evokes images of earthquakes, floods, or conflict zones.
But for many humanitarian and non-profit staff, the emergencies are not one-time events. They’re constant.
We work through the slow catastrophes — funding freezes, mass layoffs, political instability, social unrest, and systems breaking under the weight of unmet need.
And while the world calls them “contexts,” we call them our everyday reality.
What we mean by catastrophes and emergencies
A catastrophe can be any event that overwhelms a community’s ability to cope - natural disasters, violent conflict, pandemics, displacements.
An emergency is an urgent, destabilizing event that disrupts safety, stability, and functioning - and these can be both external (like war or famine) or internal (like an organizational crisis, ethical rupture, or leadership collapse).
Humanitarian staff often experience both. Simultaneously. And repeatedly.
This cumulative exposure (what psychologists call complex trauma) has real, measurable impacts on our brains, our bodies, and our ability to cope.
How chronic exposure affects us
Each time we face a crisis, our stress response activates…preparing us to survive. But when exposure becomes continuous, the brain doesn’t have time to recover.
Over time, that leads to:
Hypervigilance - always waiting for the next crisis.
Emotional numbing - a loss of joy, empathy, or connection.
Memory and concentration problems - because the brain prioritizes threat over thought.
Chronic exhaustion and burnout - the body’s way of saying “enough.”
These are not personal failings. They are physiological responses to sustained stress.
The hidden culture of silence
In the humanitarian and non-profit world, there’s an unspoken rule: hold it together.
We’ve built a culture that celebrates resilience and sacrifice, but quietly punishes vulnerability. We whisper about therapy, take stress leave under other names, and use words like “fatigue” or “exhaustion” to avoid saying depression, anxiety, or trauma.
We tell ourselves others have it worse. That we should be grateful. That this is just part of the job.
But silence doesn’t protect us. It isolates us. And stigma doesn’t make the pain go away, it just makes it harder to reach for help.
Access to services means more than availability
The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day is “Access to Services: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies” is not just about having services on paper.
Access means:
Services that are safe, confidential, and culturally relevant.
Support that’s easy to reach, not buried under bureaucracy.
Leaders who model care and make it acceptable to seek help.
Systems that invest in prevention, not just crisis response.
Access is not just a matter of funding. It’s a matter of courage and culture.
Practical ways to support mental health at work
For organizations:
🌿 Normalize conversations about mental health, not only during awareness weeks.
🌿 Train managers to recognize warning signs and respond with empathy.
🌿 Integrate psychosocial support into HR and leadership policies.
🌿 Budget for care - therapy, coaching, and rest spaces as essential infrastructure.
For individuals:
🌿 Reach out early. Don’t wait until you’re in crisis.
🌿 Use peer support. A trusted colleague or friend can be a lifeline.
🌿 Create micro-moments of regulation. Simple grounding practices like deep breathing, time outdoors, small rituals can help reset the nervous system.
🌿 Remember: you’re not weak for struggling. You’re human.
And if you’re part of an organization, ask what supports are already available internally. Sometimes help exists, but culture keeps us from reaching for it.
Closing Reflection
Mental health in emergencies isn’t just about crisis response…it’s about the people inside the response. The ones holding systems, communities, and each other together.
This World Mental Health Day, let’s commit to changing that culture - from silence to safety, from stigma to support, from “what’s wrong with you?” to “what happened to you, and how can we help?”
Because the emergencies may not stop…but the suffering doesn’t have to be silent.
Holding space with care and solidarity - here’s to staying whole, together,
~ Kate
Thanks for reading The Olive Pages: Fieldnotes on care, clarity, and staying whole
If this post resonated, feel free to share it with someone navigating change.
Browse other reflections or subscribe below to receive new posts directly in your inbox.
→ Curious about coaching or consulting support? Explore services.
KRC provides coaching, psychosocial support, and organizational consulting to humanitarian professionals and mission-driven organizations worldwide. Based in lived experience and trauma-aware care, our work helps clients navigate burnout, moral injury, organizational change, and career transitions — while staying human in the process.