Education Palestine Project #26834

Help Gaza Kindergartens Heal

by United Palestinian Appeal, Inc.

Project Report | Dec 6, 2017
Healing Through Feeling is expanding, in more ways than one

By Carlton Cobb | Director of Fundraising

Things are moving! Since my last update, the UPA Healing Through Feeling program has expanded the scope of its work and the number of kindergartens it reaches, thanks to your support. I'm excited to tell you more.

First, we were able to give Gaza families we work with another tool to help their children cope with ongoing trauma: take-home art supplies and games. As you can see from the photo I've attached, the kits we distributed are colorful and fun. Our goal was to help teachers and families apply the art and play therapy techniques they learned during the Healing Through Feeling psycho-education sessions. In turn, the adults participating in our program would be better able to recognize and mitigate symptoms of trauma in their children, such as aggression, isolation and introversion.

“You brought happiness to my children!” one parent explained. “Your kit helped me apply the behavior modification techniques we learned with my children,” noted another. Other teachers and parents said, “you gave our children what poverty deprived them” and “this package reminded us that we are not alone in this world,” touching on the benefits that go beyond trauma therapy.

Second, we reached nine more kindergartens this fall. Our six mental health practitioners, working in pairs, engaged over 260 parents and teachers over the course of the semester with sessions that covered the following topics:

Stress Management
Child Development
Trauma
Behavioral Modification

With your support, we were able to build a trauma-informed system of care around an additional 1,465 Gaza children. Thank you!

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Sep 7, 2017
Art Brings Parents and Children Together

By Carlton Cobb | Director of Fundraising

Healing Through Feeling Summer Camp

This summer, UPA engaged 300 kindergarten children during their summer camp activities through the Healing Through Feeling program. Activities were held across Gaza, including Khan Yunis, Rafah, Beit Lahia, El-Moghraqa, Sammouni, Mughrada and Maghaza.

UPA’s mental health practitioners conducted workshops for the children’s parents on cognitive development in children and how children in different age groups typically respond to traumatic events.

Parents spent time with their children doing creative activities so they could observe their children’s interactions more closely. Many parents reported that this was the first quality time they spent with their children, noting how much cleaner, safer and healthier the environment was compared to the dirty streets that the children are used to.

Sessions were also held in rural areas, providing opportunities for parents to understand the signs and effects of trauma and how to help children heal from it.

Many parents in Gaza are themselves still traumatized by the most recent war, in 2014, and the stress caused by living under siege. These sessions helped them learn how to manage stress, especially as they interact with their children.
Healing Through Feeling combines trauma education, awareness and assessment, working with kindergarten children, teachers and parents. The program invests in local Palestinian mental health practitioners, providing them cutting-edge trauma, counseling and assessment education and training.

UPA’s license agreement with the American Psychological Association (APA) has made possible access to five of the APA’s most effective children’s books. UPA has translated these books into Arabic for use by parents and teachers with their children in the program.

A mother and daughter paint together

Children and teachers at one of the summer camps

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Jun 9, 2017
In Her Own Words: Amal Helps Her Son Cope with War-Induced Trauma

By Carlton Cobb | Director of Fundraising

Parent Training Session in Gaza

I'd like to share with you a story from a Gaza mother who benefitted from training as part of the UPA Healing Through Feeling (HTF) program. HTF builds a cushion of support around Gaza’s children by having local mental health practitioners lead training sessions (known as “psychoeducation sessions”) at kindergartens for parents and teachers to increase their awareness of trauma and its symptoms and to teach them techniques that will help alleviate trauma in their children. Below Amal describes how the program helped her son deal with the continuing effects of trauma from the 2014 Israeli War on Gaza.

You, the donor, helped make this happen. Thank you!

Carlton Cobb

My name is Amal. I am 29 years old, married, with three kids. My eldest child, Mohammed, is five years old. We live in a small apartment that we rented after the Israeli army demolished our home in the last attack on Gaza in 2014. The most heart-wrenching experience was seeing the rubble of Mohammed’s room (he was only three years old). His toys and all his beautiful memories were scattered here and there. Mohammed witnessed all these difficult events and would always cry when we walked near our demolished home.

I first heard about UPA on Facebook. I met UPA’s mental health practitioners (MHPs) at an introductory session at the kindergarten, where they explained more about the HTF program. I wanted guidance on dealing with my son. All topics that were discussed in the sessions were informative, but the most beneficial was the session on trauma and how to deal with traumatized children.

That made me aware of my child’s behavior, and I started recognizing symptoms of his trauma, such as bedwetting, fear of loud sounds (such as fireworks), mood disturbances, flashbacks of the traumatic event, low academic achievement, and aggressive behavior. The symptoms also included parental attachment, especially at night, as Mohammed refused to sleep in his bed; instead, he insisted on sleeping in between my husband and me.

The MHPs with UPA taught me techniques for dealing with a traumatized child and giving support through love, play and setting a daily routine. I learned how important it is to allow my son to express his feelings – through playing, drawing, talking to me.

The MHPs met with Mohammed to observe his improvement. The sessions also had a positive effect on my attitude as I became less nervous and gained control over my anger, and I learned how to manage my stress.

The Healing Through Feeling program allowed me to understand myself and my children more clearly. I began engaging my children in discussions rather than assigning them tasks and ordering them around. The positive effects of the sessions have had a positive effect on my family; my husband now listens to me when I talk about what I've learned.

I recommend the sessions of HTF for all parents. If UPA holds more sessions here in the future, I will be the first one who will attend.

Amal

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