Ramallah –1st of August 2024. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) held a training workshop yesterday, on Tuesday, 30th July 2024, entitled “Initial Psychological Support: Supporting the Rights of Journalism Workers to Obtain Initial Psychological Support” for a number of Palestinian journalists. This training was supported by the Canadian Government.
The training was held for one day with the participation of twenty-three (23) journalists, for eight (8) training hours, with the aim of introducing psychological health and its importance to Palestinian journalists who face psychological pressures during their media work, especially field journalists, and helping them overcome the violations of media rights or human rights they are exposed to every year. It also aimed to introduce first aid messages for journalists to help them overcome work pressures.
The training workshop was opened by welcoming the participants by SHIREEN AL-KHATIB, the Acting Director of MADA Center, who explained the importance of the mental health program for journalists who are exposed to psychological pressures in their professional lives in light of the current situation. MADA Center worked to create the program recently after noticing the difficulty of the psychological situation resulting from the various challenges that journalists face during work, which led some to express their inability to continue in media work.
The specialist and psychological consultant in the workshop, ISMAIL ABU ZAYADA, addressed many topics related to mental health that would help journalists overcome the various obstacles that have begun to play a major role in affecting their mental health. ABU ZAYADA also addressed the topic of initial psychological support and its importance, in addition to the various communication skills in this context.
The training included many recreational events and activities, including psychological release sessions for the participants, as one of the most terrifying aspects of stressful events is the journalists’ concern for their safety and the safety of those they care about.
The participants expressed their great need for such training in light of the complex circumstances and environment in which journalists work, especially during the past months, which has put them under great pressure and most of them are in need of such training and sessions for psychological relief. They also expressed the benefit that was achieved from learning to control their feelings and emotions in the field, as they gained knowledge of a new topic that was unfamiliar to them.
At the end of the training, the participants recommended holding other similar trainings, including practical training and specialized follow-up, and providing similar trainings aimed at enabling those working in the press sector to deal with crises and adapt in light of the ongoing changes in the media world, which may result in new risks.
