On the afternoon of Saturday 11th November there will be an opportunity to participate in a two-hour Skype link-up between mental health workers in Gaza and London. Details can be found below including information on how to request a place.
Please share this letter with work teams, colleagues, professional networks and others with an interest in mental health
The venue is restricted in size: it may be that we shall be unable to accommodate all those wishing to take part.
Dear Colleague,
Mental Health Professionals in a Devastated Society.
4pm – 6pm Saturday November 11, 2017
This as an invitation to a unique event in London on Saturday November 11th, 2017 bringing together mental health professionals from the UK and Gaza. It is an opportunity to reach across walls and barbed wire to engage in a discussion about mental health practice in a region suffering a legacy of destruction, bereavement, disability and ongoing toxic stress.
The population of Gaza has lived under blockade for ten years. Two million people face economic collapse, a near total ban on travel, collapsing infrastructure, a crisis in housing, jobs, health services, sanitation and environmental degradation, as well as despair over any possibility of a political resolution to their catastrophic situation.
In this context, mental health workers in Gaza work under the dual pressure of their clients’ traumas and their own. Additionally they experience isolation and the apparent indifference of the outside world.
How can we respond in terms of professional solidarity and the furtherance of our collective knowledge about trauma and ethical therapeutic responses, especially in the aftermath of the Grenfell tower disaster?
Under the title of PEOPLE TO PEOPLE, the London event will explore these topics in a collaborative way with our colleagues in Gaza. We are hoping that the meeting will attract professionals from psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy, both in London and in Gaza.
The event is at the P21 Gallery, 21-27, Charlton Street, London NW1 1JD – between the British Library and Euston Station. The meeting starts at 4pm and finishes at 6pm. It will be chaired by psychiatrist Dr Derek Summerfield from the Maudsley Hospital.
There are a limited number of places. Please reserve a place by emailing us at ukpalmhn@gmail.com
الشبكة البريطانية الفلسطينية للصحة النفسية 