Baytna Trauma-and Identity-Informed Activities During COVID-19

ISSA Member: Amna Refugee Healing Network, Greece

What happened?
When COVID-19 lockdowns began in March 2020, in-person sessions at Baytna, a trauma-informed early childhood development program run by Refugee Trauma Initiative (currently renamed AMNA) in Greece, were abruptly halted. Baytna operated across five sites (Athens, Thessaloniki, Polikastro, and Katerini) and primarily served refugee children and their caregivers through in-person, trauma- and identity-informed activities.

What was needed? How did they respond?
With centres closed, AMNA needed a way to keep supporting families emotionally and socially from a distance. In response, Amna quickly pivoted to find ways to ensure continuity of services for refugee families, for whom many other essential services stopped. This included a variety of different types of responses, for different teams dependent on their contexts. Two teams developed a mobile home visiting service where they took Baytna to the doorsteps of families. One team provided online Baytna sessions with their facilitators and provided data packs to ensure access without additional cost. One team called each family each week to check on their wellbeing. Collectively all the partners together created “Baytna-inspired” audio & visual resources with storytelling, sing-alongs, movement activities and activity guides that caregivers and children can do together at homes or in camp settings. These activity ideas were designed to be accessible (requiring simple household materials), age-appropriate, and emotionally supportive. They were translated into multiple languages and shared via phone messages, social media, and partner networks. Resources were available in video, audio and PDF to meet the different accessibility capacities of partners. And these were all produced by the Amna and partner Baytna teams and a video and sound editor on a small budget but to ensure immediate accessibility.

Key challenges:

• Physical distancing prevented safe access to trauma-informed group activities.
• Families needed emotional support and engaging, developmentally appropriate activities despite limited materials or connectivity.

Solutions:

• Developed low-tech, easy-to-access psychosocial activities that families could do at home.
• Localised, multilingual resources which were shared through existing community and digital channels to maximise reach.
  
  AMNA and its partner organisations leveraged existing relationships across five regional sites to quickly distribute resources and maintain social-emotional connections during disruption. This approach helped bridge the gap left by lockdown, preserving nurturance and structured engagement despite isolation.

What's in place? What's missing?
AMNA’s remote psychosocial support during COVID-19 kept Baytna’s trauma-informed, nurturing care alive in homes despite enforced lockdowns. While the response showcases the power of flexible, layered mental health services, it also reveals a gap, without institutional mechanisms for remote psychosocial care, such critical support remains vulnerable to disruption during emergencies.

Being part of a regional network: Advantages of ISSA membership
Being part of a regional network such as ISSA allowed Amna to share its resources beyond its Baytna partners and communities. This facilitated access to a wider audience, ensured that more communities benefited from the materials, and encouraged meaningful interaction with the resources. Participation in the network enabled rapid knowledge exchange, amplification of good practice, and a stronger collective response to the challenges presented by the crisis.

Recommendations

National policymakers:
National policymakers should establish contingency plans for early childhood development and psychosocial support services to ensure continuity of care during crises such as pandemics. Emergency public funds should be allocated to sustain mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programming remotely, including the provision of internet and data access for vulnerable families. Remote MHPSS protocols should be embedded into national child protection and health frameworks so that families continue to receive support during periods of disruption.

Local/national actors
Local and national actors should strengthen collaboration with community-based organisations and frontline practitioners to enable rapid adaptation of programmes during crises. Investment should be made in staff training for remote facilitation and psychosocial first aid. Organisations should also develop and maintain low-tech, multilingual materials that can be quickly disseminated in emergencies, using trusted community channels to reach families with limited connectivity.

Private donors
Private donors should provide flexible, trust-based funding to implementing partners responding to crises. Immediate funding allows local communities to respond quickly, minimise trauma, and prevent longer-term physical and emotional harm. Sustained support enables partners to mobilise resources effectively and meet urgent needs during emergencies.

Professionals/practitioners
Professionals and practitioners should ensure that communities are not left unsupported during crises. They should find creative ways to maintain contact, such as through phone calls, safe home visits, audio-visual content, and social media channels. These efforts can provide reassurance, emotional support, and structured engagement for vulnerable children and families when in-person activities are not possible.

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