Healing Roots: An Evidence Roadmap for Refugee Mental Health Interventions
Refugees experience higher rates of depression and anxiety compared to the populations of their host countries. This is compounded by their lack of access to health care, a challenge for the mental health systems of host countries.
The Healing Roots project — a partnership between researchers at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, Irving Medical Center, the University of Ioannina and Columbia Global Center Athens — aims to address the complex mental health and psychosocial issues faced by migrants and forcibly displaced people.
This initiative is being piloted in Greece with key stakeholders, including migrants in resettlement centers. The results will be disseminated widely to improve mental health outcomes for forcibly displaced communities in other regions.
Roadmaps to Mental Health
This project will produce a Mental Health Evidence Roadmap and a Refugee Mental Health Roadmap that will synthesize existing research on refugee mental health interventions and guide the design and implementation of evidence-based support. This innovative approach will enable stakeholders to identify effective strategies and address evidence gaps to guide the implementation of targeted refugee mental health services.
The results will be shared with the international community with the aim of improving mental health outcomes of forcibly displaced communities in Greece and the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Project Leads
Charles Branas
Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Heatlh, Columbia University
Dr. Charles Branas leads one of the nation's oldest and largest departments of epidemiology and is known for his focus on especially challenging health issues and interventions that improve basic determinants of health, such as access to green space, housing, and medical care. He led the first major NIH-funded gun violence research study, and is the founding principal investigator of two injury research centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control.
Evangelia Ntzani
Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Head of the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina, School of Medicine
Dr. Evangelia Ntzani is a professor of hygiene and epidemiology and head of the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University of Ioannina, School of Medicine in Greece and an adjunct professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice, at the School of Public Health, Brown University. She is a physician scientist, an epidemiologist, a pediatrician by training, and a consultant in community medicine and public health.
Manuela Orjuela-Grimm
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center
Manuela Orjuela-Grimm is an associate professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at the Columbia University Medical Center. Her migration related research examines the intersection of nutrition, food insecurity, violence and mental health in overland migrants from Latin America, including a focus on adolescents migrating as unaccompanied minors.
Claire Greene
Assistant Professor, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
M. Claire Greene is an assistant professor in the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Her research focuses on improving population mental health through community- and systems-level interventions designed for and with hard-to-reach displaced populations in humanitarian emergencies.
Ajmal Sabawoon
Associate Research Scientist, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Dr. Ajmal Sabawoon is a physician in background and an accomplished academic in the field of public health. As a multidisciplinary academic researcher, professor, mentor and leader, he is involved in different studies in the post conflict setting.
