About Project Root Support
Who are we?
We are a non-profit organisation that specialises in the mental health of humanitarian aid workers. Our mission is to provide long-term sustainable counselling and psychotherapy to volunteers and staff of humanitarian organisations. We believe in supporting those who are supporting others.
Why do we do it?
Humanitarian workers are regularly exposed to harsh working conditions as well as traumatic scenes and narratives of those they support. The conditions of their work make them understandably susceptible to mental health issues like burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. Despite this, the mental health of humanitarians remains under-recognised. Project Root Support aims to help change this unfortunate fact by connecting humanitarian aid workers with culturally-and-context aware psychotherapists on a long-term basis because we believe in a world where burnout can be prevented and resilience is fostered in all corners of the humanitarian sector.
What do we do?
We provide direct, one-to-one, psychotherapy sessions to humanitarians. Our counsellors and therapists are specifically trained in the mental health issues that humanitarian aid workers are more likely to face, specifically burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. We maintain confidentiality and work discreetly, providing support throughout each person’s journey through the humanitarian sector.
“Very deep understanding of the context we work in and the challenges it presents, therefore making me feel deeply understood and allowed me share without any hesitation”
Origin Story
Project Root Support was born out of the collaboration of a few psychotherapists, some of which had worked as humanitarian aid workers, some as counsellors for humanitarian aid workers. It was clear to all of them that long-term mental health support for humanitarians is sorely lacking and that there is still a lot of stigma around mental health support in the humanitarian sector preventing those who need it from receiving adequate support in their demanding humanitarian roles. Project Root Support emerged as part of the answer to that perceived issue.