Community Psychosocial Worker, EPAPSY

Mamady Fofana is a trainee nurse at the University Cardiology Clinic of Sotiria Hospital. He is also offering his services as an interpreter for French-speaking refugee populations in Greece.

Since March 2023, he has been working at the Association for Regional Development and Mental Health (EPAPSY). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in partnership with EPAPSY, uses pioneering peer-to-peer methodologies to empower refugees and address the challenges they face, but also create support networks amongst refugee communities. Through the “Community Based Intervention for Mental Health Care of Asylum-seekers and Refugees in Greece” program, Mamady is being trained as Community Psychosocial Workforce, providing psychosocial support to French-speaking refugees and asylum-seekers.

In 2017 Mamady found himself as an unaccompanied minor in Greece. At the age of 16, he was 5,500 kilometers away from his birthplace, Guinea. From his stay in a refugee camp in Lesbos to his recognition as a refugee and, until he completed his studies as an Assistant Nurse, specializing in Intensive Care Unit, he had to cover an equally long distance while simultaneously experiencing the refugee reality in Greece.