UKPALMHN mailing 16 April

ukpalmhnadmin
UKPALMHN Solidarity Space
There will not be a Solidarity Space meeting on Easter Monday.
The next meeting will be on Monday 28 April at 1pm (UK time)
The link will be included in next week’s mailing.

Program linking mental health practitioners with Palestinians in Britain impacted by the genocide in Gaza
The UK Palestine Mental Health Network is collaborating with the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) on a program that links up mental health practitioners with Palestinians in Britain who have been impacted by the ongoing genocide in Gaza. With the Network’s help, the BPC has appointed a mental health coordinator who started work a few weeks ago. As one of the first steps in developing this area of work, there will be two upcoming focus groups for volunteer mental health practitioners. These are scheduled for Wednesday 23rd and Wednesday 30th April from 6:30-9:30pm and will be online (via Zoom).
We have already identified a number of volunteer therapists who will be participating in these focus groups but if you would like to attend, you can register for the focus on April 23rd here or on 30th April here. Please note that this is the same focus group that is being offered twice so you will only need to attend one of the sessions.
You must be a licensed and registered mental health practitioner in the UK to be able to attend these focus groups. Registration is necessary and only once you register will you receive the Zoom link to join.

Family Therapists for Palestine: narrative of our group’s development, aims and activities over the past eighteen months
“Family Therapists for Palestine is a safe space for those supporting Palestine and resisting the dehumanisation, apartheid, colonisation and genocide to which Palestinians are subjected. We frame our activity in terms of anti-racism and anti-colonialism, intersecting with other anti-racist practices within the systemic community. We meet monthly online and have a Google Group to help us bear witness and support each other, as well as share ideas and coordinate activities. Many of our members are active within the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network (UKPALMHN – https://ukpalmhn.com/) and are connected with Palestinian therapists and therapeutic organisations. […]”
Full report:
https://ukpalmhn.com/resources/family-therapists-for-palestine-update-april-2025/
Family Therapists for Palestine welcomes new members. Please contact Gwyn Daniel (danielgwyn@gmail.com) or, to join the Google Group, Joanne Early joanne.early@btinternet.co

Gaza’s Unspoken Reality: The tremendous need for prioritizing mental healthcare
Source: This Week in Palestine
Date: April 2025 edition
By Yasser Abu Jamei, the director general of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
For Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the last eighteen months have been marked by three major interlinked calamities: A brutal war that has lasted over seventeen months; Multiple displacements; and health risks and hazards.
https://thisweekinpalestine.com/gazas-unspoken-reality/

Long overdue release of Ahmad Manasra marks the start of a long and difficult path to recovery
Source: Amnesty International
Date: 10 April
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/israel-opt-long-overdue-release-of-ahmad-manasra-marks-the-start-of-a-long-and-difficult-path-to-recovery/
Statement from the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network
https://www.pgmhn.org/statements/tjcnoc8x7zyy6woehh3b8wo816ub2c

Strengthening International Accountability: Protecting the Rights of Children in Palestine
Source: Defence for Children International (1-hour video)
Date: 4 April
In March, Defence for Children International held a side event to the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The event, moderated by Alex Kamarotos, Executive Director of DCI, with speakers including Mr. Khaled Quzmar, Director General of DCI-Palestine, and Ms. Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967.
https://defenceforchildren.org/strengthening-international-accountability-protecting-the-rights-of-children-in-palestine-side-event-to-the-un-human-rights-council-58th-session/

Postpartum depression: perception, management, and help-seeking barriers in a Palestinian context: a qualitative study
Source: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (open access)
Date: 8 April
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a global concern that adversely affects the well-being of mothers, their children, and their families. It is particularly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, where limited research has been conducted. This study aimed to examine the perspectives of mothers regarding PPD and to identify their help-seeking behaviours and barriers in a Palestinian context.
https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-025-07457-8

Post-traumatic stress disorder among Al-Quds University students during the 2023 Gaza war: a cross-sectional study
Source: BMC Psychiatry (open access)
Date: 8 April
This study assesses the prevalence of PTSD among Al-Quds University students during the 2023 Gaza war, highlighting a high rate of severe symptoms. It calls for trauma-informed mental health interventions tailored to students living in conflict zones.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40200227/

World must act with urgency to save Palestinians in Gaza
Source: World Health Organization
Date: 7 April
UN agencies warn of catastrophic conditions in Gaza, where over two million people are trapped without humanitarian aid, food, fuel or medicine. They urge the international community to act immediately to prevent further loss of life and collapse of the health system.
https://www.who.int/news/item/07-04-2025-world-must-act-with-urgency-to-save-palestinians-in-gaza

UNRWA responded to over 3,000 cases requiring psycho-social support (mainly for children) in one week
Source: UNRWA
Date: 12 April
https://www.instagram.com/p/DITsQGvM_Wu/?img_index=1

EVENTS
Our Events page is updated weekly with events related to Palestine and mental health. As of 16 April, there are 12 up to date events listed.
https://ukpalmhn.com/events/

FEATURED EVENTS
both featured events take place on Thursday 17 April

Palestine: Repair & Return- Stories of return and ongoing genocide
Source: Theatre for Everybody (Gaza) and Az Theatre (London)
Date: Thursday, April 17 at 6:30pm (UK time)
This event, presented by Theatre for Everybody (Gaza) and Az Theatre (London), is a public conversation live from P21 Gallery and online, that presents testimonies, videos, live interventions, giving accounts of the return of the people of Gaza to their homes, both from the displaced tent encampments and from the prisons and torture centres in Israel. These will also include accounts of the consequences of the end of the ceasefire and of the escalation of the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/palestine-repair-return-stories-of-return-and-ongoing-genocide-tickets-1302013771239

The Cage and the Spoon: Imprisonment and prisoners’ resistance in Palestine
Date: Thursday April 17 at 6:30 pm
Source: Makan – Education for Liberation
Commemorating Palestinian Prisoners Day, Makan will be holding an online mini lecture that will:
– Situate imprisonment as a settler colonial tool of control and subordination
– Provide an overview of imprisonment across historic Palestine
– Centre the efforts of Palestinian prisoners and wider civil society resisting these conditions
Join us to learn more about imprisonment in Palestine on Palestinian Prisoners Day.
https://www.makan.org.uk/event/the-cage-and-the-spoon-imprisonment-and-prisoners-resistance-in-palestine-online-mini-lecture/

ACTIONS

Our Featured Action is available below and also on our dedicated Actions page together with a range of other current actions
https://ukpalmhn.com/gaza-crisis/

FEATURED ACTION

Parliament Lobby Day
Date: Wednesday 14 May
Location: Parliament
The British government remains deeply complicit in the ongoing Nakba (catastrophe) against the Palestinian people, including the current genocide taking place in the Gaza Strip. This will only change through mass public pressure. You can help by joining the Palestine Solidarity Campaign lobbying MPs on Wednesday 14 May.
Register here:
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/MayLobby2025

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS (BDS)
A founding aim of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network is to “encourage our colleagues individually and collectively to consider their response to the Palestinian call for boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS).”