Shadows into Light: Mental Health Interventions for War-Affected Children in Sierra Leone

This presentation highlights research led by Dr. Theresa S. Betancourt, Director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity and Salem Professor in Global Practice at the Boston College School of Social Work. Drawing on over two decades of longitudinal research, Dr. Betancourt examines the mental health trajectories of war-affected children and families, with a particular focus on Sierra Leone. Her work explores the intergenerational impacts of trauma, the roles of stigma, community acceptance, and family support, and the social and biological mechanisms driving resilience and risk. These findings have informed the development and scale-up of evidence-based interventions-such as the Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI)-that integrate mental health support with education, employment, and social protection systems. Dr. Betancourt will also share insights from her new book, Shadows into Light: A Generation of Former Child Soldiers Comes of Age (Harvard University Press, 2025), which draws on this landmark twenty-plus-year study to tell the story of healing and resilience among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Through vivid personal narratives and rigorous data, the book reveals that, far from being a lost generation, these young people were profoundly shaped by the support-or lack thereof-from their families and communities. The book offers a powerful argument for rethinking children's risk and resilience as outcomes of the post-trauma environment, with broad implications for global mental health, child protection, and reintegration policy