Help Gaza Kindergartens Heal

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.