Conflict, Peace and Mental Health

A powerful guide for dealing with traumatised communities in the wake of conflict and disaster. What are the human consequences of conflict, and how should healthcare and social services respond? In this book, David Bolton provides an answer to these urgent questions, drawing on more than twenty-five years of service experience in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Focusing on the work he undertook with colleagues following the devastating Omagh bombing in 1998, Bolton reveals how needs were assessed and how evidence-based services were put in place. He describes the training and education programmes that were developed to assist first those communities directly affected by the bombing and later the wider population traumatised by the years of conflict. Crucially, he places the mental-health needs of affected communities at the heart of the political and peace processes that follow. The second edition of this clear and practical book includes new chapters on the challenges of promoting justice and reconciliation in a post-conflict situation. It is essential reading for those planning for and responding to conflict-related disasters, policy makers, service commissioners and providers, politicians, civil servants and peace makers.