Present Project

Wellness and Focusing Project

This proposed pilot project is a community-based programme to facilitate psychosocial wellness (mental health) in children and their families, in Gaza, Palestine. The project programme is based on a successful AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) project in Afghanistan, carried out in conjunction with the Focusing Institute in 2005. The project makes use of and trains project participants in using Focusing as the primary means of working with children and families to build and sustain wellness. Focusing is a process of change in which a child connects with, and is allowed to symbolise (in words, images, gestures) the sense of what they feel in their body about a life experience.

“One value of using the Focusing approach is that it doesn’t depend on qualified therapists and psychologists to provide support.  Focusing can be taught to parents, carer – givers, teachers, community workers and children,  who all learn to interact with each other in this supportive and skilful way.  It becomes a safe self help strategy for communities in which the level of need is greater than the availability of professionally trained staff and volunteers.”

This process of change allows them to work through painful emotions and psychological issues arising from the stresses and trauma which they have experienced living in Gaza. Focusing with a trained adult does not place the child in a dilemma of personal disclosures and possible breaches of trust. The Focusing child (or adult) has full control over what he or she expresses in drawing or talking with a trained or trusted adult, or even other children. Psychological relief from intense emotions comes from inner listening by the child doing the Focusing, rather than from being heard by another person.

For children and especially for adult family members, we assume that Palestinians generally do not trust traditional western methods of personal talk therapy with other Palestinians, as they are uncomfortable when asked to talk about sensitive matters. Those using Focusing can meet their inner psychological problems or needs with and from their own inner resources, and with a trained listener who merely reflects back what the Focuser chooses to say, or often in the case of younger children what they choose to draw. Focusing requires no disclosure to be effective.

The programme, using experiential methods adapted for use in family settings, allows participants to gain the greatest learning and understanding of the Focusing process in the context of their own culture and circumstances.  Through a network of Family Support Groups, it promotes mutual self help in communities. The activities are designed to reinforce positive family, and community coping styles, while it recognizes most of the participants’ connection to Islamic traditions. It provides parents with skills they can use every day, skills that assist them in caring for their children.

 The programme is grounded in Islam, which helps both literate and illiterate participants to feel comfortable with the process they are learning. (We assume Islam for the project, but the programme works with and is being used by people of other religions and belief systems.) Focusing also helps the care provider’s deal with their own traumas, which of course helps them get ready to help the children. Giving parents the tools to cope with their own traumas increases the support for the children. Children are most resilient when their parents are resilient.

Focusing promotes resiliency, a key concept in psychosocial wellness. When one is resilient, one is able to positively adapt to or cope with difficult situations. We illustrate resiliency with the image of the green stick that does not break when it is bent. Without resiliency, one is like a dry stick that snaps in two when it is bent. Promoting resiliency with Focusing skills will help the children and their families cope with and manage in some measure the problems that life in Gaza has sent their way. (Note: children and adults who have been identified as suffering from severe trauma will be referred for more specialised help by PTC, which also provides counselling and therapy services).