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About
GCMHP
The
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) is a
Palestinian, non-governmental, non-profit organization
established in 1990 to provide comprehensive community
mental health services to the population of the Gaza
Strip including therapy, training and research. It is
one of the leading mental health organizations in
Palestine.
The
Programme was established to fill the urgent needs of
the population resulting from the Israeli occupation's
neglect of providing basic services to the population,
including mental health services. Also, GCMHP's
establishment came at a time during which mental health
concerns were multiplied as a result of recurring
exposure to the stress and trauma caused by the policies
of the Israeli occupation and the resulting social
problems.
GCMHP
Activities
Therapy,
Rehabilitation, and Public Awareness:
In
1990, GCMHP started out with one clinic in Gaza City.
Since then, it has established 3 other clinics in
Jabalia, Khan Younis, and Deir El-Balah to serve all
areas of population concentration in the Gaza Strip.
Medical teams in the clinics provide different types of
psychotherapy including play therapy for children, as
well as play therapy for children, occupational therapy,
and rehabilitation for drug abusers. In addition, the
Programme puts emphasis on the most vulnerable groups in
society such as traumatized children, women victims of
violence, and survivors of torture and other human
rights violations.
In
general, the Programme provides mental health services
to the whole population of the Gaza Strip with the
philosophy of providing comprehensive community mental
health service. Also, GCMHP provides some auxiliary
services such as electroencenography (EEG), which aids
in diagnosing organic and psychotic cases, physiotherapy
for victims of torture suffering from physical symptoms
of torture, and psychotropic drugs through a pharmacy in
each clinic. Since 1990, GCMHP has treated approximately
14,000 clients.
The
Programme involves the family in the therapeutic process
because of its important role in the success of therapy
and rehabilitation. Psychosocial counseling is conducted
with the family at the hands of GCMHP field workers.
Also, the Programme is working with public and private
primary health care centers as the most-frequented
centers by clients. Working through these centers
reduces the stigma attached to seeking a psychiatrist or
therapist.
Since
its establishment, GCMHP has been carrying out public
awareness campaigns in all parts of the Gaza Strip
increase awareness about different mental health issues.
Public meetings, brochures, posters, articles, lectures,
workshops, and other tools are being utilized to reduce
the ignorance about mental health and erase the
stereotype linking it with insanity. In this regard,
thousands of public awareness activities have been
organized. Moreover, the Programme issues "Amwaj"
magazine, the first specialized mental health magazine
in Palestine, once every two months. The magazine is
distributed to governmental institutions,
non-governmental organizations, and other local
organizations.
One
month after the eruption of Al-Aqsa Intifada (on 28
Sept. 2000), the Programme launched its
Crisis-Intervention Project to try and meet the
psychological effects of Israeli violence that took the
forms of killing, assassinations, bombardment, shelling,
razing agricultural lands, home demolitions, and siege.
Crisis intervention teams visit victims of Israeli
violence to provide psychological support, conduct
debriefing sessions, and follow up cases that require
further care. In addition, the Project provides free
telephone counseling services for those unable to reach
the clinics because of the closures and siege.
GCMHP
has a special project dealing with female victims of
violence. The Women's Empowerment Project deals with
women victimized by political or social violence within
the general framework of the Palestinian social fabric,
and provides them with counseling, therapy, vocational
training, public awareness lectures, and leadership
training. |
