| Psycho-Social Services (PSP) |
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The Occupied Palestinian Territory lives under continuous Israeli-Palestinian conflict which deeply affects the society, economically, socially and emotionally. This conflict has many consequences for Palestinians in terms of exposure to violence, restriction of movement, and the economic situation.
From the beginning of the Intifada on 29 September 2000, until 31 December 2006,
3944 Palestinians were killed in the Occupied Territories. Among them were 809
minors (under the age of 18). At least 1915 of those killed were not
participating in fighting at the time, and 210 were objects of targeted killing.
Thousands more were wounded . |
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| Palestinian people are facing high levels of violence both from the conflict and within their society, as indicated by a number of recent studies. In the recent study on the psychosocial well-being of children (NPA/PCBS – September 2005), nearly one third of families indicated that their child suffers from at leas one sign of psychosocial distress. |
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The overall context of violence prevailing in the OPT inevitably permeates into
homes and schools. Constant stress, pressure and humiliation inflicted on
parents in their everyday lives result in turn in a higher prevalence of abuse
towards children within their homes. In schools, violence against children and
teachers, and among peers, is regularly reported. The above mentioned study
shows that one-fifth of the surveyed children indicated that they had
experienced violence perpetrated by family members.
Community violence is also high, as neighbors ranked second after families in
terms of sources of violence for children. 14% children reported having
experienced violence in school. Rates in Gaza are higher than in the West Bank. |
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| The Psychosocial Department at the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has
developed its strategy in order to provide the best of its services for PRCS
workers and volunteers, its beneficiaries, and vulnerable Palestinians in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory and Diaspora. |
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| The psychosocial department implements its activities through the psychosocial
centers within a pre determined time frame and planned to ensure their success.
Furthermore, there are three levels of intervention: |
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| Awareness level: Helping the direct beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, and
population by disseminating knowledge and insight about normal human reactions,
coping strategies, and services available. |
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| Direct psychological support: On this level, PRCS provies individual counselling
on both on-site and outreach bases. Issues such as grief, violence, abuse,
intrusive thoughts, avoidant behaviour and isolation, irritability,
concentration problems, coping, self esteem and hope, initiative, behaviour
changes related to adolescence, and stress management, before, during and after
stressful situations are examples. |
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| Psychotherapy: Provided in a professional context within multidisciplinary
settings. The psychotherapist should be skilled in clinical assessment and be
trained on at least M.Sc. level in acknowledged methodology. Psychotherapy
should be conducted under trained supervision in order to support professionals’
continuous reflection. Psychotherapy follows a professional protocol and is
aimed at long-term and profound changes in personality structure and insight. |
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Services' Quality Control: To ensure continues improvement of the Psychosocial
Department services, the psychosocial Department developed a specialized centre
(Expressive Art and Capacity Building Centre) which provides the following
services:
1) Supervision for PRCS and other local organizations psychosocial workers.
2) Monitoring and Evaluation of implanted psychosocial activities.
3) Manuals development.
4) Trainings in specialized psychosocial topics: short courses and/or ongoing
training. |
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• Reports
• Publications
• Statistics
• Articles
• Strategy
• Manual
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