What is your job in New Zealand/Aotearoa and what led you to apply with MSF?
I am currently working as a clinical educator in a mental health hospital in Christchurch, where there is a specialist clinic providing care for patients with conditions such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. I was drawn to working with MSF because I saw it as an opportunity to share the skills I have where they are really needed, on a human level.
You’ve just returned from your first assignment in the West Bank, Palestine. Why is MSF working there?
The West Bank has not received as much coverage as Gaza during the war. But Palestinians here are living under occupation, suffering daily traumas that have severe impacts. Much of the violence that is inflicted in the West Bank is psychological; people are forced into a constant state of alertness and a lack of ability to plan their futures.
The presence of the Israeli forces can be felt in most areas. There are regular military operations and restrictions on movement, which were already impacting access to care for patients prior to October but have since intensified.
Sometimes a military operation would prevent our access to patients in a certain area for several weeks. There are also violent attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers. Our patients ranged from people who had been released from Israeli prisons where they had experienced torture, to university students who were struggling with depression. Each person I worked with had unbelievable resilience. I hadn’t encountered that level of resilience before.
As a psychologist, what did your role involve?
I was working across Nablus governorate, and the neighbouring governorates of Qalqilya and Tubas. Every day was different. Myself and my Palestinian colleague, an intercultural mediator and interpreter, would visit patients in their homes. Some patients would come to the MSF clinic for psychological therapy, and we would also do group sessions in community spaces.
In these sessions we would provide people with education on mental health, discussing natural responses to trauma, ways to manage trauma, and how to talk to children about mental health. We explained what support MSF could offer.
Our team ran specialised programs, including a psychological education program for women in the old city of Nablus to provide them with support after several military incursions.