Gaza Crisis: Help children heal from trauma before it's too late.
The bombs have stopped. But the trauma is just beginning.
Gaza's children are now suffering widespread trauma. If we all chip-in now, we can make sure kids get the mental health support they need to heal, before this trauma steals their future.
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| A child's drawing for the health clinic in Gaza. NECC /Act for Peace |
The airstrikes have stopped, but for kids across Gaza the trauma is still very real. Rather than drawing pictures of animals or their friends, they are drawing falling bombs, airstrikes and people dead in the street.
These kids have seen things that no child should see.
Act for Peace's local partner, the Near East Council of Churches (NECC), runs three health clinics in Gaza, providing mental health care for kids. This includes one-on-one counselling, group therapy sessions and a place where kids can draw and feel safe.
This is a critical moment. If we all chip-in now, we can make sure they can get the mental health support they need to heal before this trauma steals their future.
Children arriving at the clinics aren't smiling or making much noise. Trained counsellors are encouraging kids to draw their experiences as a way of helping them deal with their trauma.
Tarek was only five when he was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after the last war in 2014. His mother told us, "if you tried to touch him, he would become very defensive and pull away". He would wake in middle of the night and hit the floor with his head and hands and would start hitting himself.
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Above left: Burdour, a psychologist who runs the NECC Psychosocial Program in Gaza. |
Above right: Tarek (5) drawing during a psychosocial session at one of NECC’s health clinics in Gaza. | Images: Richard Wainwright /Ben Littlejohn /Act for Peace |
Tarek received 14 therapy sessions with Budour, a trained counsellor, who told us that "in the second session I found some changes in him. He was calm and sat on the chair. I believe he will get better."
By receiving urgent mental health support, many children will stop drawing scenes of destruction and start drawing pictures that are hopeful and positive. If we intervene early, they have a chance of the childhood they deserve.
But we need to act now.
By chipping in $29 you can provide kids like Tarek with:
- One-on-one sessions with a trained counsellor, encouraging children to talk and draw their experiences with a trained professional.
- Stress management and relaxation techniques, like breathing exercises, to give them practical ways to cope with the trauma they’ve been through.
- Group activities such as puppet shows and watching cartoons, to allow them to reflect on their feelings.
Over the next month, if we can raise $58,000, together we can make sure no child is turned away from the health clinics.
Kids cannot unsee the bombings and destruction they have just experienced but we can help them recover.