Dignified and Timely Assistance for Migrants

Panama - Migrants in the region regularly face specific situations of vulnerability. High levels of uncertainty and insecurity, multiple risks, and a lack of information along their migratory route represent challenges that affect their psychological well-being.  .

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), through the Mesoamerica Program, has been conducting a series of psycho-social assistance and staff welfare workshops, which aim to strengthen psycho-social care skills and intervene in the areas that impact migrants, as well as to promote strategies for self-care and team welfare for personnel who assist migrants.

The most recent of these courses was held in Panama for personnel from the National Border Service (SENAFRONT), the Ministry of Health’s National Mental Health Program, and Health Clinics in the town of Metetí. Said personnel is currently serving migrants from Africa, Asia, and Haiti at temporary humanitarian aid stations in Darién Province.

The workshop, held in October at the request of the authorities, focused on presenting the IOM’s Manual for Pyscho-Social Support for Migrants. The 25 participants took part in activities designed to strengthen listening skills, provide psychological first aid, and generate an inter-institutional response system for migrants, all based on a comprehensive approach.

"This type of workshop seeks to enable officials in each country to provide timely psycho-social assistance to migrants in terms of listening, empathy, and individualized care, while at the same time ensuring that the personnel take the necessary measures to avoid the emotional and physical exhaustion that direct assistance to migrants entails,” explains Noemy Serrano, Technical Specialist from the Mesoamerica Program who conducted the recent training workshop in Panama.

Both SENAFRONT and the Ministry of Health worked in separate groups, assessing needs and challenges in terms of inter-agency coordination for creating a response system, self-care and staff care, psychological first aid, and psycho-social care as a component of migratory management.

Both institutions expressed the need to continue training on this issue, as well as to receive support from international agencies for managing migratory emergencies, and to strengthen the response system of the joint task forces.

For more information, please contact Alexandra Bonnie at IOM Costa Rica. Tel: (506) 2212-5321. E-mail: abonnie@iom.int