January 13, 2017 Sunna Al-Amal had implemented an evaluation workshop with the completion of first year of Higher Diploma in Psychotherapy program 2016-2017 for the first cycle of trainees which is implemented by Sunna Al-Amal in Partnership with Al-Quds University –public health department – and jointly funded by MISEREOR and CARITAS Schweiz.
The workshop included the program’s related parties varying from the organization’s staff represented by Fadwa Abbad, the General Director, Professor Iyad Al-Azzah, a member of the organization’s advisory committee and an individual supervisor for the trainees, Professor Osama Kundus, an individual supervisor, Professor Najah Al-Khatib, the program’s project coordinator, a representative of public health department at Al-Quds University, in addition to the program’s 13 participating students consisting coming from different 13 mental health institutions distributed in different districts (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron ).
Mrs. Abbad opened the workshop by welcoming the students and thanking them for their commitment and achievements. Mrs.Abbad had also welcomed the program’s main supervisors and acknowledged their efforts and support. She also welcomed the representative of Al-Quds University and valued the program’s academic partner’s role and its continuous support.
Mrs.Abbad presented the main phases that the program went through such as requirements and qualification for participation, scholarship conditions, admission criteria, regulations and rules and the relationship between Sunna Al-Amal and the partner mental health institutions.
The supervisors highlighted the importance of the program that lies in combining the theoretical and practical aspects together and enriching the program with many clinical seminars. Mrs. Hakim demonstrated that the trainees are also receiving long training hours that focus on building their professional careers besides undergoing to individual supervisions by number of professional supervisors specialized in mental health, which in return will help the trainees to overcome the challenges and the pressures the trainees are facing.
Dr. Al Azzah also discussed some of the parts in which individual supervision focuses on such as dealing with severe cases and the importance of possessing the required knowledge and skills which enable the trainees to work professionally. Mr. Kundus emphasized on Sunna Al-Amal’s role represented in offering the practical training to the trainees which highly complements the academic role.
The students praised the importance of this program and its ability to build partnerships with most of the Palestinian mental health institutions in different locations and how this program is distinguished by possessing a large group of scientific and practical capacities and competencies.
This workshop took the form of a discussion session that discussed the program’s importance and its impact on the mental health sector in specific and its impact on the Palestinian community in general. The students reviewed the programs’ academic, practical and training aspects. They also presented the main achievements and challenges the program have faced in order to be taken into consideration and to be developed.
Upon the end of the workshop, the students had identified and came up with number of recommendations. First is the importance of individual and group supervision and its impact on polishing and improving the trainees’ personal and professional skills. Second is the importance of intensifying the number of clinical seminars conducted to them which are complementing the academic aspect due to their role in enriching the students’ experiences and skills. The last recommendation demonstrates the importance of continuing this program and targeting new cycles of psychologists distributed in different and diverse geographical areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to equip them with qualifications thus increasing the status of services provided in mental health institutions in the Palestinian community and availability of such services to a wider number of beneficiaries.