MENTAL HEALTH
& PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT

Since 2016, Lighthouse Relief has provided Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to people seeking safety through safe spaces and structured sport, recreational, educational, and creative activities. Through the years, our work has shifted to respond to the needs of the communities we work with — evolving from shoreline emergency response on Lesvos to MHPSS and long-term integration support on mainland Greece.

Lighthouse Relief operates in community spaces outside of refugee camps in response to policy restrictions that severely limit NGO presence inside refugee camps. Working outside the camps allows us to maintain a consistent presence in the communities we support, building trust with our participants and ensuring activities remain informed by their needs and wants.

Ritsona Refugee Camp, where Lighthouse Relief has operated since 2016, is one of the largest camps in Europe, located in an isolated industrial area 75 km north of Athens, and hosting approximately 2,000 men, women and children awaiting decisions on their asylum applications.

As arrivals to Greece surged again in 2024, overcrowded camps continued to lack basic services and private spaces, deepening vulnerabilities for women and children in particular. With limited services available, the need for safe, community‑led spaces for connection and relief has only grown.

When NGOs, including Lighthouse Relief, lost access to camp facilities in 2023, we shifted our MHPSS programming to external community spaces. Today, we continue to fill critical gaps in protection through psychosocial support activities with the communities of Ritsona and Corinth Refugee Camps.

HOW WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE WELLbEING
OF Women, Children, and Young people FROM OUTSIDE THE CAMPs.

sports in Ritsona and Corinth

Lighthouse Relief’s sports sessions in Ritsona and Corinth offer young people seeking refuge rare spaces of safety, connection, and emotional relief. In Ritsona, weekly football sessions give young men a chance to step outside the isolating camp environment, build friendships across communities and languages, and access psychosocial support through play. In Corinth, twice‑weekly basketball and volleyball sessions provide young people with structured opportunities for movement and expression through the supportive setting of team sports. Across both camps, these activities create moments of normalcy and belonging that help young people heal and strengthen resilience amid the uncertainty of displacement.

our ACTIVITIES SERVE AS ANTIDOTES TO THE BOREDOM, ANXIETY, AND HARDSHIPS OF LIVING IN A STATE OF LEGAL LIMBO WITHIN THE GRIM CONFINES OF ISOLATED CAMPs.

Fund our Projects →

Community Garden in Corinth

Lighthouse Relief is working with a partner organisation, Meraki, to provide activities for families and young people at the Corinth Community Centre. We will guide participant-led projects and activities. These will include carpentry workshops to build a ping-pong table and a gym space at the garden. Further, we will implement trauma-informed art and music classes, community-building games, a multi-language library corner, and photography and creative workshops for children, young people, and women, as well as more activities to be developed. All our sessions are informed by the wants and needs of community members.

LIGHTHOUSE RELIEF IS COMMITTED TO LEARNING AND GROWING FROM OUR PAST PROGRAMMES.

From 2016 to early 2023, Lighthouse Relief worked inside Ritsona Camp to support residents’ well-being through safe spaces, with daily educational and recreational activities ranging from football tournaments to photography workshops, English classes, and more. 

In 2025, our systems of psychosocial support moved outside refugee camps to community spaces near Ritsona and Malakasa in response to increasing restrictions on movement for people living in refugee camps.

Since 2016, thousands of children and young people have had the chance to forget their troubles for a little while in our safe, cheerful spaces. In this time, Lighthouse Relief has facilitated Summer Camps, Safe Spaces for women and children, a Child Friendly Space (CFS), Youth Engagement Space (YES), Little Lighthouse programme, along with a Female Friendly Space (FFS), Infant and Young Child Feeding Programme (IYCF) and Resident Volunteer Programme (RV). Many participants reported that engagement in these spaces helped them regain lost hope for their futures and alleviated the stress of life in displacement.

  • Between August and September 2025, Lighthouse Relief brought back one of our successful projects from 2024, a summer camp for families, expanding access to all residents of Malakasa Refugee Camp, including men who are often not considered to be a “vulnerable” group.

    These sessions, offered three times a week, provided a welcoming space for refugees and asylum seekers to play sports, enjoy arts and crafts, drink coffee and chai while socializing, sharing slam poetry, or developing their English skills. Our partnership with Project Armonia, supplied fresh and nutritious meals to participants every session, helping to fuel community and resilience.

  • In June 2025, Lighthouse Relief reignited our programming offered to women and children of Ritsona Refugee Camp and expanded our services to residents of Malakasa Camp (40km north of Athens). Our Safe Spaces for women and children provided structured play, learning, movement and creative workshops, and community-building to residents of two of the largest and most densely populated camps in Europe.

    These dedicated female safe spaces adapted to the needs and wants of the community through various partnerships with local humanitarian organisations. In response to government restrictions which prohibit the movement of children outside the camps without a parent or legal guardian, Lighthouse Relief offered a conjoined weekly session for women and their children at the Sama Community Centre.

    These trauma-informed sessions provided a much needed outlet for connection, healing, and building resilience. Women shared stories and participated in wellbeing and relaxation activities such as dance, yoga, sports, and jewellery making, while their children played and developed foundational skills for the future. Informal language classes in English and Greek were offered by the LHR team, open to all ages. Women were also able to join self-defense workshops led by EmpowerVan which helped them build confidence and physical strength.

  • From 2021 to 2022, we ran the Little Lighthouse programme inside Ritsona Camp. The space offered early childhood development support for 3-5 year-olds to develop social skills, gain exposure to multiple languages, and learn how to regulate their emotions through play and learning activities. The reach of our child-friendly space expanded in 2022 to also serve older children up to the age of 14, offering arts and crafts, sports, and games that promote healthy habits, gender equality, and respect for others. From June to December 2023, we operated the Little Lighthouse with our partners in Athens, helping children find stability with daily sessions offering similar activities to our programme inside Ritsona. Their parents were welcome to join in the activities or enjoy a quiet moment and a reprieve from childcare responsibilities in the adjacent room.

  • In March 2018, the team in Ritsona launched the first phase of our Resident Volunteer programme. A formalised version of the sports programme, initially included in the CFS and YES, launched in August 2020 in order to increase the number of resident volunteers (RVs) and to offer them structured training and help them develop skills they can use when leaving the camp.

  • Our Youth Engagement Space (YES) started in February 2017, in response to the unanswered need for support for teenagers and young adults living in Ritsona Camp - particularly boys and young men, who are traditionally left out of humanitarian assistance as they are not seen as a vulnerable group. Inspired by the Tree of Hope, one of the first youth-led initiatives which became a powerful symbol of resilience, developed in part by a young participant who transformed his initial hopelessness into a work of strength and collective healing.

    The YES was shaped by youth interests and areas of need. The LHR team invited skilled professionals to provide workshops and created an environment for youth to work on collaborative projects like the Ritsona Kingdom Journal. LHR also provided access to informal support through peers and a Social Worker in the YES Manager. The space evolved further, representing a drop-in center for youth to access English, art, and more workshops as well as a place for them to work on their own independent projects.

  • LHR’s flagship programme in Ritsona Camp, CFS, started in April 2016. The purpose of the CFS was to offer psychosocial support services to reinforce the resilience and wellbeing of children. In addition to offering structured play, LHR identified and referred vulnerable cases to the protection actor on site.