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About the course
About the course
This online course examines the impact of mental health and psychosocial issues on individuals and communities in conflict settings. Addressing key concepts such as stress, trauma, and PTSD, the module equips participants with culturally sensitive frameworks to support affected populations and manage the mental health challenges encountered by humanitarian workers themselves. Participants gain insights into resilience strategies, trauma-informed care, and stress-focused interventions within complex environments.
This course is offered for credit or on a non-credit basis and is delivered jointly by Oxford Brookes University's Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
A flexible and user-friendly online learning environment will enable you to learn from your workplace. During the course, you will have support from a team of academic experts, top-ranked practitioners, and field experts. As well as the unique opportunity to interact and learn with peers and expert facilitators across the world.
Your time will be split equally among four main activities:
Staff-led activities, such as webinars, tutorials and discussions
Self-led activities, including readings and independent exercises
Drawing on your past or current professional practice
Preparing your assignments (credit-rated course)
The credit-rated CPD module, equivalent to 20 postgraduate credits, requires learners to complete assessments and can be counted towards the distance-learning PG Cert/ Master's in Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding. The non-credit-rated short course leads to a certificate of attendance.
Dates
Dates
Delivery dates: January - March 2026
This course is primarily self-paced, with a required one-hour weekly webinar. It's designed to be flexible for those with full-time jobs or for those studying from around the world.
Application deadlines: 10 January 2026 (Credit-rated course), 20 January 2026 (Non-credit-rated course)
Non-credit course: 8 weeks comprising of 6 interactive weeks plus 2 reading weeks
Credit-rated course: 11 weeks comprising of 6 interactive weeks, 2 reading weeks plus 3 assessment weeks
Course cost
Course cost
Credit-rated course is £1,145*
Non-credit-rated course: £600*
Course Content
Course Content
The online course is estimated to be 200 hours per module and covers four core themes:
Landscape of Psychological Problems in Conflict Settings: Examining the burden of stress and psychosocial challenges in communities, and the long-term effects of adversity.
From Stress and Distress to Trauma: Explores the progression from stress to trauma, focusing on reactions to triggers, PTSD and trauma-informed interventions.
Pathways to Wellbeing: Covers core components for wellbeing, including culturally sensitive responses, communication skills and resilience building (covered over two weeks).
Advanced Self-Care Strategies and Interventions: Provides techniques for personal resilience, self-care, and managing organisational responsibilities related to wellbeing (covered over two weeks).
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
Engage in critical debates on mental health impacts in humanitarian and peacebuilding processes.
Critically evaluate research on mental health challenges in conflict settings, focusing on both affected communities and field practitioners.
Assess the practitioner's role in reducing stress-related burdens and fostering psychosocial support.
Use digital tools effectively for research and apply insights to practical contexts.
Develop recommendations to enhance stress-related interventions and resilience strategies. This course encourages application-oriented learning, enhancing leadership and management skills for humanitarian professionals.
Testimonials
Testimonials
'This module irreversibly opened my eyes to the critical need for mental health and well-being support in both conflict-affected areas and amongst humanitarian workers. This, in turn, motivated my commitment to embed mental well-being programming into training programmes within my organisation and to seek out uniquely tailored support for the humanitarian worker. These commitments feel essential - both to enhance our organisation's impact in the field and to ensure longevity for my staff and myself' Julia Heemstra, AMANZI
Who is this module for?
Who is this module for?
This course is suitable for practitioners already working in the humanitarian, conflict transformation and peacebuilding fields and in related areas such as diplomacy and journalism, who wish to continue their professional development, and practitioners working in other fields interested in exploring opportunities in these areas.
Contact us
Contact us
If you have any enquiries about the course, please email us at hst-cpdadmissions@brookes.ac.uk
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*Cancellation policy
*Cancellation policy
If you cancel on or before the application deadline, you will receive a 50% refund. Cancellations made after this date are not eligible for a refund.
If the course is cancelled by Oxford Brookes University, all registered participants will get a full refund.
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