Most psychological treatments are modelled on Western assumptions which don’t account for culture. Ncube’sTree of Life approach is group-based and culturally-grounded. In Tree of Life counseling, each participant’s tree drawing becomes a metaphor which describes his/her life story. Tree drawings are shared; then all participants make positive, empowering comments.

This workshop introduces an intervention program to promote the social inclusion of young people involved in extremism. It uses cognitive-behavioral techniques, narrative therapy, and resilience-building to disengage individuals from extremist ideologies and encourage community integration. The program consists of three phases focusing on identity, emotions, and community reintegration.

Few areas are more challenging to human rights than migration. At a global level, policies to regulate or protect migration looms high on the political agenda. Politicians worldwide compete to adopt measures that deter, stop or even punish migration. The policies and regulations adopted often mean brutal hindrances and diminished rights to migrants – denial of border-crossings, threats, deprivation of liberty and severe obstructions.

The presentation will explore the human rights issues at stake, in particular given the present global situation and the dominating political trends and powers. It will discuss how psychologists may contribute to the protection of the human rights and dignities of the migrants, how social processes allowing for active participation, contribution and coexistence can develop.

Growing up in poverty poses significant risks to children’s development and future opportunities, affecting multiple life domains. Poverty extends beyond financial deprivation, encompassing a lack of material, cultural, and social resources needed to achieve a minimally acceptable standard of living in the society one is part of. Poverty not only shapes the lives of children today but also perpetuates disadvantages across generations. In my presentation, I will address the risk factors and consequences of growing up in poverty and discuss how an integrated, multi-dimensional approach can help mitigate these effects.

In light of discussions held in the Psychology and Democracy interest group at ICP, this roundtable aims to unravel the nexus between the perception of migrants and refugees and psychological processes of attribution of power and authority, populism, and meritocracy.

This paper sought to understand the experiences of parents of children from LGBTQ+ community. 5 parents from different backgrounds, with children belonging to LGBTQ+ community participated in this phenomenological study. Themes such as stigma, resilience, and marital relationship quality along with other experiences of the parents, were identified.

The aim of this paper is to highlight Jamaican elders, who, despite the colonial reign in Jamaica, stood steadfast, resilient, and triumphed due to their deep faith. One of the conference themes is “Indigenous people, former colonies, and the environment.” This presentation will demonstrate strength in the face of adversities.

Autistic women face significant occupational exclusion and adverse mental health impacts due to institutional ableism. This study explored their experiences with workplace coaching, demonstrating the need for an inclusive culture and diversity. Findings highlight coaching psychology's role in challenging ableism and advocating for systemic change toward a more inclusive society.

About 70 million educated Indian Muslim women remain largely underrepresented in public and private work sectors. Through a qualitative approach, an attempt has been made to explore the socio-cultural barriers and understand their journey. This study outlines action steps to promote a safe and inclusive work environment for Muslim women.

This study explores the intersectional experiences of transgender individuals in India, examining how overlapping identities—such as gender, age, socio-economic status, and religion—shape access to human rights and resources. Despite legal advancements, entrenched biases persist, highlighting the need for inclusive advocacy aligned with SDGs 10 and 16 for equality and social transformation.

This study explores how social rejection, negative self-image, and social identity interact, with resilience moderating the effects. Results show negative self-image does not mediate rejection's impact on identity, but resilience helps mitigate these effects, highlighting its role in healthy identity formation. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.

Death in India is considered as liberation of the worldly desires. Thirty-five older adults were interviewed to understand the role psycho-sociocultural factors in death acceptance. Thematic content analysis revealed that participants with higher spiritual inclination believed to have higher connection with oneself which helped them to accept death, wholeheartedly.

Despite constitutional safeguards, caste discrimination pervades Indian educational settings, often in subtle forms like microaggressions. This qualitative study explored these implicit biases and their impacts on marginalized caste groups. Interviews with 13 SC/OBC students revealed themes of discrimination, microaggressions and their mental health impacts, academic challenges, and institutional-level issues.

This qualitative study aimed to explore factors of resilience and barriers to it among Syrian refugees residing in Germany, Türkiye, and Czechia. The results support the socio-ecological model of resilience, highlighting its multidimensional nature with an interplay between individual, social, and macro-level factors.

This case-control study explored the relationship between family (parents and/or siblings) mental health problems (FMHP) and lifetime substance use disorder (SUD), considering a gender perspective. The prevalence of FMHP was 26.9%, without significant differences between men and women. FMHP were associated with lifetime psychopathological problems.

This study examines the psychological well-being of older internal migrants in India, aged 55-65, focusing on social, environmental, and health factors impacting retirement decisions and quality of life. Through qualitative analysis, it reveals influences like familiarity, support networks, and challenges such as cultural differences, underscoring the need for adaptive organizational initiatives.

College students are at heightened risk for anxiety and depression, especially in Middle Eastern contexts where sociocultural barriers limit help-seeking. A 4-module online ACT program was developed and tested, showing significant reductions in anxiety and improved wellbeing, demonstrating the feasibility of internet-based interventions in this setting.

The study explores attitudes, experiences and awareness towards men’s mental heath among working professionals in India to understand the sociocultural norms and systemic barriers that shape men’s mental health.The research highlights low mental health literacy, limited access to support, work, family expectations and economic barriers prevent men from seeking help.

This study examined acculturation, physical activity, and leisure walking in a large representative sample of immigrants and native born Canadians. Findings emphasize reducing barriers to immigrant’s physical activity and walking, which have relevance for women and aging immigrant’s right to health and good life quality, health equity, and social inclusion.

The broader study explored socio-cultural-political contexts of youth suicide from a social justice framework to foster a community of solidarity in responding to suicide among youth living in Tezpur, Assam. This paper discusses the need for collective-actions based on the exploratory phases and review of how the collective-actions fostered community of solidarity.

This research determined the reasons why the participants worked abroad. As the participants recounted their key motivations for work migration, the study also examined the mental wellbeing of the participants. The research also explored the psychological challenges encountered vis-a-vis the importance of mental health using the indigenous concept of ginhawa.

Increasing attention has been given to how climate change relates to migration over the past decades. Given the wicked nature of climate change and the ways it impacts existing migration motivations and patterns, the relationsip between both is not straightforward. In this keynote, I will delve deeper into this relationship, by setting out who is impacted by environmental change, and how environmental changes impact mobility patterns. Afterwards, I discuss how this gives rise to challenges related to climate justice, at the global, regional and local level. In doing so, attention will be paid to participatory policy making, intersectionality, inclusion of local views, spiritual/religious beliefs and health outcomes.

This symposium is of utmost importance as it will shed light on the significant consequences of climate change and war on multiple populations. Participation in this symposium is crucial; we will offer examples of solutions to address these consequences and also provide a platform for meaningful discussions and potential collaborations.

This study validated the Climate Change Anxiety Scale in a South African sample of women of mixed HIV and pregnancy status. Results indicated strong psychometric properties; however, some items may not be relevant in low-resource settings, highlighting the need for adapting climate-related mental health measures to diverse contexts.

In 2024, the American Psychological Association issued a report, Psychological Science and Immigration Today. This presentation will summarize the report, addressing the state of the psychological research pertaining to immigration into the US and implications of that research for psychologists and allied professionals.

This research examines how intergroup contact and ethnic identification influence attitudes toward primary and secondary outgroups. Focusing on Turks in different sociocultural contexts, results show that higher quality contact and lower ethnic identification predict greater acceptance of primary outgroups, which in turn leads to greater acceptance of geographically distant secondary outgroups.

"Psychology in the Digital Age: Overcoming Cross-Cultural Barriers through Technological Innovation," explores how digital tools can enhance cross-cultural communication in psychological practice. Discussions, hands-on activities, and case studies will help to develop skills for promoting inclusivity and understanding in diverse populations.

Psychologists face the impact of anti-immigrant sentiment with the clients they see, the organizations they serve, and the research they are involved in. This presentation showcases the efforts of the Global Network of Psychologists for Human Rights in addressing anti-immigrant sentiment across the Western world using a human rights-based approach.

In the Great Lakes region and Sub-Saharan Africa, migration driven by conflict, displacement, and environmental crises profoundly affects health and mental well-being. Rwanda, shaped by the legacy of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, provides critical lessons in fostering social inclusion through health and mental health systems. Despite challenges such as limited resources, stigma, and fragmented services, Rwanda’s decentralized system of care highlights the potential of culturally grounded, community-based, and trauma-informed approaches to address the unique needs of displaced and migrant populations.

By leveraging regional collaboration and addressing social determinants of health, Rwanda’s experiences offer a model for creating inclusive, sustainable systems. These lessons extend globally, providing pathways to equity, resilience, and dignity in the face of increasing migration challenges worldwide.

Definitions reflect societal biases and moral codes, framing identities like "forced migrant" and "refugee" and highlighting societal boundaries of belonging. This symposium encourages counseling psychologists to address forced migration and social equity in clinical contexts, fostering nuanced, integrated reflections.

Our systematic review reveals that research on asylum-seekers’ and refugees’ adaptation overly emphasizes negative aspects of psychological adaptation, while neglecting its positive aspects and sociocultural adaptation. This imbalance fails to address the full range of refugee needs, highlighting the necessity for inclusive policies and interventions to support their adaptation.

The psychological impact of displacement on the Kashmiri Pandit population is explored in this research using a qualitative theme analysis of personal narratives.

This study examines psychological well-being, resilience, and proactive coping among older migrants in India nearing retirement. Utilizing the Ryff Psychological Wellbeing Scale, Proactive Coping Inventory, and Nicholson McBride Resilience Questionnaire, findings reveal significant associations between retirement age, resilience, and coping, highlighting the importance of social support systems in enhancing geriatric mental health.

Migrants seeking mental health care and support are frequently confronted with systems of care and therapists, even those with good intentions, who are inadequate to their concerns and needs. The broadening of feminist therapy to incorporate a transnational perspective provides a framework to address more effectively therapeutic efforts and outcomes

In this keynote I will discuss how my understanding of engaged scholarship has evolved throughout my academic journey. I will show the importance of critical theory and feminist epistemology in approaching engaged scholarship from a transformative angle. Then I will zoom in further in discussing the ingredients of transformative engaged scholarship with the link to epistemic justice and inclusoin of various forms of knowledge. The aim of such scholarship is then to co-generate societal change together with societal actors towards inclusion on meso and macro level. I will present some examples from our research within expertise lab: Refugee Academy at the VU to elaborate further on the importance of such form of engaged scholarship for academia, for society and for refugees.

Globally there is an alarming rise in hate and violence based on aspects of identity. A global psychology based on strong scientific foundations respects cultures, and learns from local peoples. How can psychology foster community cohesion? This session will feature 30 minutes of presentation/discussion, followed by breakout groups for discussion.

Since time immemorial, people have been on the move. Migration is part of human species throughout time and across places. The impact on later generations and societies continues. People's minds, well-being and social relationships still bear the scars of the past, dehumanisation, supremacist colonial thinking, marginalisation, exclusion, homicide and genocide.