The massive in£ux of Iraqi refugees into Syria in 2006 put an immense strain on the already underresourced mental health sector.This prompted a consortium of international agencies to create an Interagency Working Group (IAWG) in 2008, with the goal of national capacity building.This Interagency Working group merged into a National Advisory Board that included the Syrian government. An integrated one-year master training programme for mental health professionals was designed.The ¢rst cohort of master trainers successfully completed the programme, and started to train frontline worker with very good results. There has been widespread advancement in awareness of integrated psychosocial and mental health approaches, multi-professional teamwork and training methodology among practitioners.This has translated into practical projects improving the quality of care for bene¢ciaries. In addition, comprehensive training curricula and a bilingual handbook have been drafted withthegoal of integrating and streamlining psychosocial, mental health and training methodology. Initial steps have also been taken to create a uni¢ed National Mental Health and Psychosocial Council.