Community-based Psychosocial Support for Orphan and Vulnerable Children living in an Orphanage

Abstract

Children and people living in orphanages are a high-risk group vulnerable to psychosocial problems. Individual who lived in this community are not only orphans but also children and people from low-income families. This group could be perpetrators, witnesses and victims of bullying and other misbehavior lead to mental health and psychosocial problems that are carried out directly, both in the orphanage and in the school where they involved with. This community service aims to improve mental health status of children and people at the Al Husna Orphanage, Dau District, Malang Regency through training of early detection, prevention and early treatment for psychosocial problems through implementation of psychosocial intervention and counseling. When people live in together with other people from different backgrounds, many things triggered to conflict among them. Mental health on students were easily distracted. The results are that they have experienced risk for suicide, hallucination, delusion, anxiety, and social isolation. The manager of the orphanage and the teachers did not understand the early sign, symptoms and treatment then it followed by the psychology issues among staff and the teachers. Through the empowerment program that has been carried out by dealing with the orphan and vulnerable children, socialization and training regarding psychological well-being, early detection, prevention, and treatment could be well-implemented during their activity of daily living. They can detect the deviations early and arrange prevention lists as well as sustainable step for upcoming moment. Most of the children and people were not aware of the problem mental health issues around them as well as prevention and early treatment. People in the orphanage play an active role during outreach activities, training, counseling and focus group discussions.