Clinical and Ethical Insights from Palestine
How do we offer genuine healing when trauma isn’t in the past, but an ongoing reality?
In times of ongoing structural violence and protracted conflict, how do standard mental health frameworks hold up? Often, traditional models of “neutrality” and “post-traumatic” care fail to capture the reality of distress that is a daily, lived experience.
We are honored to announce a crucial interactive workshop developed by Dr. Samah Jabr, based on her extensive frontline psychiatric practice in Palestine. This four-part training challenges us to move beyond mainstream psychology and explore decolonial frameworks, Liberation Psychology in action, and the vital human rights dimensions of clinical practice. This is essential learning for anyone seeking ethical pathways to healing in highly politicized environments.
“Healing begins when we name the injustice, not silence it.”
– Dr. Samah Jabr
This interactive workshop offers a vital framework for healing developed by Dr. Samah Jabr, born from years of psychiatric practice on the frontlines in Palestine and the region. It is a model informed by decolonial thought, Liberation Psychology, trauma studies, and critical human rights frameworks.
Together, we will examine the epistemological foundations of mainstream psychology and challenge the assumption of neutrality in mental health practice. Does “professional neutrality” truly exist when working under occupation? We will explore how standard diagnostic tools can sometimes slap a label on distress while obscuring the structural violence causing it. How do political realities shape the pain we see in the consulting room?
March 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2026
9:00 – 11:00am PST
|
|
|
A recording will be available to registered participants only
|
This interactive workshop offers a vital framework for healing developed by Dr. Samah Jabr, born from years of psychiatric practice on the frontlines in Palestine and the region. It is a model informed by decolonial thought, Liberation Psychology, trauma studies, and critical human rights frameworks.
Together, we will examine the epistemological foundations of mainstream psychology and challenge the assumption of neutrality in mental health practice. Does “professional neutrality” truly exist when working under occupation? We will explore how standard diagnostic tools can sometimes slap a label on distress while obscuring the structural violence causing it. How do political realities shape the pain we see in the consulting room?
Palestine is not positioned here as a mere “case study.” Instead, this workshop centers knowledge generated through lived experience, clinical engagement, and collective acts of survival under ongoing oppression.
|
Over four interactive sessions, Dr. Jabr will guide us from critique to practice through the following structure:
Module I (March 1): Rethinking Mainstream Psychology
Examining colonial foundations and questioning the limits of diagnosis in contexts of structural oppression.
Module II (March 8): Liberation Psychology in Practice
Moving beyond theory to explore accompaniment, collective memory, and solidarity as ethical clinical commitments.
Module III (March 15): Trauma-informed Care in Contexts of Ongoing Political Violence
Differentiating ongoing traumatic stress from “post-traumatic” frameworks and focusing on community-based resilience (sumud).
Module IV (March 22): Mental Health, Human Rights, and Professional Responsibility
Situating mental health within human rights discourse, examining the ethics of witnessing, advocacy, and sustainability.
|
If you are seeking frameworks that meet the political, historical, and human complexity of the moment, we invite you to join us in this essential training.
|
In commitment to ethical practice,
The SAND Team
|
