The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has produced increasing circles of victims beyond the infected and the dead. Survivors, families, children, and health workers are dealing with the stress and trauma left behind by the disease. Read how a psychosocial worker supports Ebola patients, and serves as a liaison between Ebola patients and their families and communities.

 “Health workers have done, and continue to do, long shifts attending to too many patients while witnessing their colleagues’ deaths and working under a lot of fear and stress,” says Florence Baingana, mental health specialist for WHO Liberia. 

Psychosocial support at the Island Clinic Ebola Treatment Unit

Reaching Bushrod Island in Monrovia, I get to meet E. Dash Karbar Sr, a psychosocial worker working in Island Clinic Ebola Treatment Unit. Dash is one of the 57 mental health clinicians trained by WHO and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on how to support their fellow healthcare worker colleagues, how to support Ebola patients, and how to serve as a liaison between Ebola patients and their families and communities. “Since day one I have been working at Island Clinic”, says Dash. “We all had the anxiety of going out there making sure to save lives,” he continues.