Attempts at analysis and resolution of the Boko Haram insurgency are often rooted in peace and security discourse. But what if we centred mental health discourse in dealing with violent extremism? One organization has been asking and answering this question.
Communities affected by conflict are often engaged by different stakeholders: humanitarian aid workers, policy makers, security forces, healthcare personnel, mental health workers and so on. Typically, these stakeholders will work within the boundaries of their expertise, each with their own interventions. Knowledge hierarchies, such as the supremacy of the randomized control trials (the gold standard of evidence-based methods in medicine), and the vested interests of international actors, will inform these interventions. Continuing to think and practise in closed systems simply preserves and perpetuates imperial and colonial practices...
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