Armed conflict has positioned Colombia as the country with the second highest internal displacement of citizens. This situation has forced government projects and international cooperation agencies to intervene to mitigate the impact of violence; however, the coping strategies implemented by the country’s minorities are still unknown. The study objective is to describe the coping strategies and their relation with mental health within Afro-descendant culture in Colombia and the effects that armed conflict has on these coping mechanisms, through a phenomenological study involving focus groups and interviews with experts. Rituals and orality have a healing function that allow Afro-Colombian communities to express their pain and support each other, enabling them to cope with loss. Since the forced displacement, these traditions have been in jeopardy. Armed conflict prevents groups from mourning, generating a form of latent pain. Afro-Colombians require community interventions that create similar spaces for emotional support for the bereaved persons in the pre-conflict period. Thus, it is essential to understand the impact of this spiritual and ritualistic approach on mental health issues and the relevance of narrative and community interventions for survivors.

The objective of the study is to assess the middle-term effects (1 year after intervention) of two community-based mental health interventions, Common Elements Treatment Approach intervention, CETA, and Narrative Community Group Therapy intervention, NCGT, in two cities of the Colombian Pacific region (Buenaventura and Quibdó). A follow-up study was conducted on a cohort of trial participants. In this trial, the positive effects of two mental health interventions were evaluated; assessment was carried out in separate groups (CETA arm, NCGT arm and a control group) of the reduction of symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and function impaired mentality. The participants were Afro-Colombian survivors of the armed conflict and displacement living in Buenaventura and Quibdó. They were surveyed using the same instrument used in the original trial. Intent-to-treat analyses were performed, and longitudinal mixed-effects regression models with random effects were used to analyse the middle-term effects of the interventions. At 1-year post-intervention, participants in Buenaventura who received the CETA intervention experienced a decrease in depression (−0.23; p = 0.02), post-traumatic stress symptoms (−0.23; p = 0.02) and total mental health symptoms (−0.14; p = 0.048). In Quibdó, the NCGT intervention significantly improved function impairment (−0.30; p = 0.005). CETA and NCGT interventions have the potential to maintain a reduction of mental health symptoms in participants from the Colombian Pacific region.

Due to the limited supply of mental health services for Afro-Colombian victims of violence, a Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) intervention has been implemented in the Colombian Pacific. Given the importance of improvement in mental health interventions for this population, it is necessary to characterize this process. This article seeks to describe the implementation of CETA for Afro-Colombian victims of violence in Buenaventura and Quibdó, Colombia through case studieswith individual in-depth interviews with Lay Psychosocial Community Workers (LPCW), supervisors, and coordinators responsible for implementing CETA. From this six core categories were obtained: 1. Effect of armed conflict and poverty 2. Trauma severity 3. Perceived changes with CETA 4. Characteristics and LPCW’s performance 5. Afro-Colombian culturalapproach and 6. Strategies to promote users’ well-being.Colombian Pacific’s scenario implies several factors, such as the active armed conflict, economic crisis, and lack of mental health care resources, affecting the implementation process and the intervention effects. This implies the need to establish and strengthen partnerships between institutions in order to administer necessary mental health care for victims of violence in the Colombian Pacific.