On today's show, guest hosts Layla Kanaan will be interviewing Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, Psychiatrist & Director of Gaza Community Mental Health Program, who will be able to provide crucial insight into the recent events taking place in Gaza.
Call in and voice your thoughts, ideas and opinions on today's topics. The studio number is 503-231-8187.
Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei is an inspiration. As a psychiatrist and the Director of the GCMHP, Dr. Abu Jamei embodies the spirit and hope of Gaza. Dr. Yasser comes to Portland to speak about the dire mental health situation in Gaza. As the people and infrastructure in Gaza struggle under the crippling siege, occupation, repeated war, intense casualties and many deaths from the Israeli military response to non-violent protests of the Great March of Return, GCMHP continues its work to treat severe & ongoing trauma.
The GCMHP is constructing a new center in Gaza City in order to expand their capacity to meet the mental health needs in Gaza. The new center will enable mental health practitioners to not only treat many more of those in need of mental health services in Gaza, but it also will have space for much needed training and education.
Dr. Yasser will talk about life in Gaza in 2018 and what it is like to provide mental health care to a besieged population with so many acute and chronic needs resulting from years of occupation and war.
We will also be collecting donations to support the construction of the critically needed new center for GCMHP.
We hope you can join us for a powerful event and a wonderful evening. We are honored to be able to support the important work of GCMHP.
Dr. Yasser Dr. Abu Jamei joined GCMHP as a student in the High Diploma Programme in Community Mental Health and subsequently served as a Psychiatrist-Clinical Supervisor and Director of Training and Research. In 2014, he was appointed Executive Director. His particular interests include neuropsychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and advocacy and policy change.
On July 21, 2014, during an Israeli bombing attack on Gaza, a home of Dr. Yasser's extended family was hit by a missile as family members were breaking their Ramadan fast with an iftar dinner. Twenty-eight were killed, including nineteen children and three pregnant women. "There was no place for parents and children to hide," said Dr. Abu Jamei. "You never knew where the bombs were going to fall." Dr. Abu Jamei’s response was to continue his work at GCMHP. "In Gaza, you just have to start by doing something. Select anything that will do good, and that is the right thing to do."
GCMHP provides crisis intervention and rehabilitation services to families in Gaza who have been traumatized by years of military occupation, bombing campaigns, blockade, and siege. This painful history coupled with extreme, siege-induced unemployment rates makes the work of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme unique and timely in the world of global mental health.
- KBOO