EP30: Providing Psychosocial Care at Doctors Without Borders

NASW Social Work Talks Podcast

Athena Viscusi, LCSW, is a Psychosocial Care Specialist at Doctors Without Borders. She's directed mental health programs in Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, and Palestine. She's hired, trained and supervised local workers in refugee camps and worked with clients in cholera and Ebola treatment centers.

Prior to this, she was a community mental health provider in Washington, DC. She worked with immigrants and refugees, at a domestic violence shelter, and a homeless outreach and substance abuse treatment program. She also directed a gang intervention program that provided services to youth and their families.

Posted April 30, 2019

Read a transcript of Episode 30

About Our Guest

Athena Viscusi, LCSW, is a clinical social worker, and is a Psychosocial Care Specialist at Médecins sans frontières/Doctors Without Borders USA, providing support to MSF staff before, after, and during deployment abroad. She directed mental health and psychosocial programs for Doctors without Borders in Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, and Palestine. She hired, trained and supervised local workers in camps for refugees and internally displaced people, victims of conflict, and patients and their families in cholera and Ebola treatment centers.

Prior to MSF, she was a community mental health provider in Washington, DC. She worked in a public mental health center for immigrants and refugees, a domestic violence shelter, and a homeless outreach and substance abuse treatment program. Immediately prior to joining MSF, she directed a gang intervention program which provided services to youth and their families. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York and the District of Columbia. She is an alumna of Barnard College and the Howard University School of Social Work.

More about Athena Viscusi's work:

• Caring for the Caregivers
• Ebola: Practice Reflections
• No Health Without Mental Health

Resources

• Global Social Services Workforce Alliance
• International Federation of Social Workers
• Physicians for Human Rights Trainings for Health Professionals

Publications

• Children and Families Affected By Armed Conflicts in Africa: Implications and Strategies for Helping Professionals in the United States
• Multicultural Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Identity