Gaza Mental Health Support for Families

FAJR Global’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) program brings psychiatric care, family support, safeguarding and training to children and families affected by war and displacement. It works in Gaza, Jordan and Egypt and is led by Dr. Mariam Aboukar, FAJR’s Chair of Mental Health.

The figures on this page come from the MHPSS Impact Report 2025-2026, which reports through October 26, 2026. Each figure belongs to its own place, period and program.

How care is organized

FAJR’s MHPSS manual describes four layers of support. A person may need more than one at the same time.

• Safety and essential needs: food, water, shelter, medical care, accessible services and protection.
• Family and community support: trusted relationships, caregiver support, education, meaningful activity and psychological first aid.
• Focused psychosocial and psychological support: structured skills and support from trained, supervised practitioners.
• Specialist mental health care: diagnostic assessment, psychiatric consultation and specialized treatment when needed.

The links between layers matter. When a child is referred on, FAJR’s standard is to hand them over in person, confirm the receiving service has accepted them, and follow up if the care does not happen.

Jordan: psychiatry within medical recovery

In December 2025, an MHPSS mission provided specialist psychiatric care to medically evacuated children and adolescents from Gaza, in hospitals and at their family residences. Clinicians worked on the wards alongside medical teams, then continued outpatient visits where families were living. FAJR’s Medical Evacuations program reports MHPSS for patients and caregivers in Jordan:

• 78 participants, 70 children and 8 adults
• 250 one-to-one sessions
• 17 psychiatric assessments

Caregivers described calmer behavior, greater social engagement and better communication. A proposed 12-month pilot would place brief behavioral health support inside the medical and rehabilitation services families already use.

Egypt: INARA and Karama

With INARA, FAJR combined medical, psychosocial and educational support for medically evacuated children and families. From June 15, 2025, to March 15, 2026, the psychosocial program reported 408 beneficiaries (326 children and 82 adults), 101 parent-mediated sessions and 97% caregiver satisfaction among 31 respondents.

From April to September 2026, FAJR funded and co-implemented the Karama Project with Taabu Club in Cairo. All 212 displaced Palestinian women enrolled completed training across three cycles, above the target of 200. The project delivered 137 vocational training sessions in Palestinian tatreez embroidery, crochet and beadwork, and 118 MHPSS sessions, and reported a 68.34% improvement in psychosocial wellbeing. The women made 1,014 handmade items, and 787 of them passed quality control for future sale through the FAJR Global Shop.

Gaza: understanding needs, preparing teachers

Between April and June 2026, FAJR’s team used a 68-item needs assessment with 1,505 children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 in Gaza. Detailed findings are being prepared for scientific publication.

On October 11, 2026, 24 school counselors and teacher supervisors completed Practical Tools for Psychosocial Support in the Classroom, delivered with the Ministry of Education. Representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health joined the online sessions. Read about the training.

The next phase is a supervised training-of-trainers pathway for schools, so teachers can recognize distress, keep predictable routines and refer children who need more help. Sites, staffing and enrollment targets will be confirmed before launch.

Safeguarding and the manual

The MHPSS department helped develop FAJR’s Child Protection and Organizational Safeguarding Policy. On October 10, 2026, 40 teachers and medical, logistics and media staff completed safeguarding training at FAJR’s Education Center in Egypt.

The final FAJR MHPSS Manual v2.0 runs to 205 pages. It covers care from infancy through older adulthood and includes field guides, supervision tools and referral forms. Arabic translation and cultural adaptation are underway.

The team

Dr. Aboukar, a psychiatrist trained in adult, child and adolescent, and psychosomatic psychiatry, was invited by Dr. Mosab Nasser, FAJR Global’s CEO, to establish and lead the department. It now brings together psychiatrists, psychologists and nurse practitioners, with recruitment continuing. Local educators, clinicians, facilitators and families help shape the work.

What comes next

• Establish a mental health center in Gaza and run it for 12 months.
• Extend the Gaza school training with local supervision and referrals.
• Keep care going in Jordan and Egypt, including the Jordan pilot and follow-up after Karama.
• Put the manual into supervised use once the Arabic adaptation is complete.
• Publish the Gaza assessment findings after review.

Projects and campaigns

This work runs through the Gaza Children’s Mental Health Care project. The current appeal, A Mental Health Center for Gaza’s Children, aims to raise $100,000 to establish a mental health center in Gaza and run it for 12 months. FAJR’s planned research on the mental health of Gaza’s children sits under Research and Medical Education.

This program is part of FAJR Medical, FAJR’s area of work for surgery, evacuations and hospital care.