THE World Health Organisation (WHO) in partnership with UNICEF has published a new training manual to equip health and social care professionals and other workers to deliver effective and safe support to adults with mental health and psychosocial needs.

The manual provides a structured, competency-based approach to teaching and assessing foundational helping skills such as active listening, empathy and collaboration among specialist and non-specialist workers.

Globally, most people with mental health conditions do not receive effective care. For example, only 3 percent of individuals living with depression in low- and middle-income countries receive treatment, partly due to a shortage of well-trained mental health workers.

Everyone who is in a role supporting others - including health and social care professionals, community workers, counsellors, volunteers, and teachers ─ can benefit from evidence-informed training to improve foundational helping skills to assist with delivery of effective and safe support. Without these skills, there is a risk of ineffective, or even harmful, care.

“Millions of people cannot access quality mental health care because there simply aren’t enough trained specialists,” said Dévora Kestel, Director at WHO Department of NCDs and Mental Health. “Strengthening foundational helping skills among non-specialists can help close this gap. This manual offers a practical, evidence-based path to equip helpers with the skills they need to provide effective, timely, and compassionate care to those who need it.” 

Developed for the joint WHO-UNICEF EQUIP platform, the manual addresses gaps in training by offering a standardized, competency-based approach to teaching and assessing key foundational helping behaviours such as communication, empathy, collaboration, and promoting hope.

This manual equips trainers and supervisors with the tools to build helpers’ skills and confidence, ensuring care that is safe, respectful, and effective. It covers 15 core competencies and employs a validated approach to assess competency levels through structured role-plays. This competency-based approach helps reduce unhelpful or potentially harmful behaviours.

“The modular aspect of this manual makes it easy for trainers to integrate foundational helping skills in existing training courses. It can thus be flexibly adapted across health, social care, education, as well as humanitarian settings,” said Mark Van Ommeren, Mental Health Unit Head, WHO Department of NCDs and Mental Health.

Developed through expert consultation, literature review, and tested in four countries, the training has demonstrated improved competency and increased trainee confidence.