With generous support from Don deLaski and the deLaski Family Foundation, CMBM has been helping Haitians build healthy, resilient communities since 2010. Developed in response to the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, our nationwide program is a model for working in the aftermath of natural disaster.
How we worked in Haiti
Under the leadership of Country Director Linda Delmont Métayer, MA, MPH, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) has brought our life-changing model of self-care and mutual support to more than 250,000 children and adults across Haiti. Some 40,000 thousand have participated in 10-week long Mind-Body Skills Groups. This program has been delivered by 300 Haitian clinicians, educators, and community leaders, whom CMBM has trained in its groundbreaking model of psychological self-care and group support. These service providers have integrated the model into 120 organizations nationwide, including schools, hospitals, clinics, orphanages, churches, Vodou peristyles, and community organizations.
Our impact
The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s program in Haiti is one of the world’s largest, most effective programs for psychological trauma-relief and resiliency-building. We have worked with the most vulnerable members of the Haitian population—including orphans, widowed mothers, enslaved children, survivors of gender-based violence, and incarcerated children and adults. We have also received urgent requests from the Ministry of Health to train all physicians, nurses, and other health professionals working in primary care. The Haitian National Police and National Prison System have also asked us to train police officers, counselors, social workers, and corrections officers. Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas, head of the Diocese of Anse-À-Veau and Miragoâne and the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education, has also asked us to extend our program throughout areas most affected by Hurricane Matthew.
250,000
children and adults served
40,000
participants in 10-week long Mind-Body Skills Groups
8,000
children and adults supported with emergency relief after Hurricane Matthew
300
clinicians, educators, religious, and community leaders trained in our model
120
partner organizations currently participating in our program
