This webinar focussed on the importance of speaking about Palestinian mental health when Israel seeks to debilitate the whole of Palestinian society.
Trauma is not new to Palestinians who have been experiencing it for the last 75 years. However, Israel’s war on Gaza that began in October 2023 has thrust the population into a living hell due to the ongoing assault as their homes and with the whole of their vital infrastructure annihilated, leaving no safe space for any Gazans. In addition, Palestinians everywhere are being affected as their people group is on the receiving end of Israel’s barbaric genocide policies.
This webinar featured the work of mental health organisations working within Gaza, the West Bank and with Palestinians in the diaspora.
Learn about what help is available to them and is there hope that Palestinians will ever recover from this trauma?
Speakers:
Samah Jabr (Chair of the Mental Health Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health)
Lama Khouri (Global Palestine Mental Health Network)
David Harrold (Chair of Trustees of Gaza Trauma Centre)
Gwyn Daniel (UK Palestine Mental Health Network)
Martin Kemp (UK Palestine Mental Health Network)
Dr Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist practicing in the public and private sectors within Palestine in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. She is currently Head of the Mental Health Unit within the Palestinian Ministry of Health and an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural sciences at George Washington University, USA.
Dr Lama Khouri is a Palestinian psychoanalyst and clinical supervisor based in New York. She is a co-founder of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network and a member of its steering committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation; on the Advisory Council of the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network; Board of Directors of the Institute for Expressive Analysis.
David Harrold works in education, specialising in helping students who have literacy difficulties. He is chair of trustees for Palestine Trauma Centre (UK) and has visited Gaza three times. On one of these visits, he delivered a course on Drama therapy.
Gwyn Daniel is a family and couples therapist, and trainer, practicing in Oxford, She has published widely, including many articles on Palestine. She is on the steering group of the UK Palestine Mental Health Network and is a patron of the Palestine Trauma Centre which works in Gaza.
Dr Martin Kemp is a psychoanalyst working in private practice in London. He made his first trip to Palestine in 2008 with a tour for health professionals organised by ICHAD, and in 2014 was a founder member of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network. He has written several articles on the responses made to the situation in Palestine by the mental health professions. Martin is on the ICAHD UK Executive Committee.