ActionAid Palestine to Support Youth Demands to Enhance Access to Mental Health Services
Occupied Palestinian Territory – As part of its commitment to supporting youth rights and strengthening their leadership roles in responding to their growing needs, ActionAid Palestine (AAP)supported a youth-led digital advocacy campaign implemented by the Humanitarian Youth Group Palestine (HYGP), calling for improved access to mental health services for young people.
The campaign includes a range of digital and media activities, in addition to an online workshop with institutions providing mental health services. It aims to amplify young people’s voices and lived experiences, while shedding light on the cumulative psychological challenges they face as a result of ongoing violence, lack of safety, and economic and social pressures, as well as the limited availability of specialized services and unequal access to them, particularly in marginalized areas.
Campaign activities also included a televised episode aired on Wattan Media Network, bringing together youth activists and representatives from ActionAid Palestine. Participants called for empowering young people to access mental health services, improving and sustaining these services, and combating the social stigma that prevents youth from seeking mental health support. The episode provided a space for young people to be heard and to emphasize the critical role of mental well-being in building a resilient future.
The episode featured Samah Kassab, Humanitarian Program Manager at ActionAid Palestine, youth activist Nadine Al-Tamimi, and youth activist Fouad Safout Banat.
During the episode, Samah Kassab highlighted the complex and compounded psychological situation facing Palestinian youth, who have grown up under prolonged occupation and successive crises that have escalated at an unprecedented level in recent years. She explained that young people live in a constant state of anxiety, fear, and insecurity, coupled with loss of hope, economic instability, job insecurity, and even the loss of homes, family members, and social support systems,factors that directly impact their mental health.
Kassab emphasized that the campaign is based on a needs assessment study conducted in Gaza and the West Bank, which revealed real gaps in access to mental health services. The campaign therefore serves as an advocacy and pressure tool targeting official, civil society, and international institutions, without absolving governmental bodies of their responsibilities. She stressed the importance of involving youth in decision-making processes—not merely as beneficiaries, but as partners with a seat at the table of processes of making decisions .
She also called for the provision of sustainable and dedicated funding, the delivery of safe and accessible services, and the integration of self-care into programs, noting that healing the psychological wounds of Palestinian society requires time, political will, and genuine partnership with young people.
Youth activist and member of the(HYGP), Nadine Al-Tamimi, emphasized that mental health for young people is a necessity, not a luxury. She stressed that psychosocial support should be understood in Palestinian society as a basic need, just like physical healthcare.
“Mental health relies on scientific interventions that help individuals adapt to a harsh reality, especially in the context of genocide whose impacts remain deeply embedded in our collective memory,” she said.
Al-Tamimi explained that the Palestinian reality has become divided into pre-genocide and post-genocide phases, with traumatic scenes leaving profound impacts on youth—particularly amid closures, checkpoints, economic deterioration, and lack of employment opportunities. She added that youth participation in frontline humanitarian responses, despite its importance, has placed immense psychological burdens on them, as they were confronted with direct suffering that required inner strength and opportunities for emotional release.
She spoke about one of the most difficult experiences she faced: working with children who had lost their homes, safety, and access to food creating an internal conflict between feelings of gratitude and guilt.
“Awareness of mental health helps a person first help themselves, so they can then help others,” she said.
Al-Tamimi called for confronting and overcoming societal stigma around seeking mental health support, noting that real need ultimately outweighs stigma, and emphasizing that mental health is a fundamental right for every human being.
A youth activist and member( HYGP) Fouad Banat described psychosocial support as a continuous humanitarian process based on providing a safe, non-judgmental space for listening, and enabling young people to cope with accumulated trauma. He stressed that mental health starts within the family and extends to schools, universities, and the wider community, requiring interventions proportional to the scale of disasters Palestinians are enduring.
Banat pointed out that the absence of long-term programs and sustainable initiatives has exacerbated the crisis, explaining that many negative social phenomena—such as violence, depression, and suicide—are direct results of hopelessness and ongoing fear. He noted that youth in Gaza and the West Bank face different forms of repression and pressure, which have affected their daily lives and their ability to plan for the future.
Sharing his personal experience, Banat explained that the severe psychological stress he endured during the war affected his physical health, prompting him to reconsider the importance of mental health treatment as part of holistic recovery. He warned that neglecting mental health—especially in the presence of social stigma poses a serious threat to individuals and society as a whole.
He added that the destruction of health institutions during the aggression, along with people’s preoccupation with securing basic necessities, has pushed mental health to the margins despite its deep and lasting impact. He concluded with a clear message: mental health and psychosocial support services are a legitimate right, and long-term investment in young people’s mental well-being is an investment in the resilience of Palestinian society, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities and recognize Palestinians’ right to dignity and life.
About ActionAid International
ActionAid International is a global federation working with more than 41 million people across over 72 of the world’s poorest countries. We strive for a world founded on justice and sustainability, where everyone enjoys a life of dignity, freedom, and a world free from poverty and oppression. Our work focuses on achieving social justice, gender equality, and eradicating poverty.
ActionAid began its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian people, grounded in their right to freedom, justice, and self-determination. In Palestine, ActionAid implements various programmes through engagement with Palestinian communities, youth groups, and women. We aim to empower women and young people, enhance their effective civic and political participation, deepen their understanding of their rights, and mobilize them to engage in collective action to address rights violations resulting from prolonged occupation. Additionally, we work to strengthen their leadership capacities and support them in practicing active citizenship by holding authorities and other duty bearers accountable.
For more information, please contact:
Riham Jafari
Communications and Advocacy coordinator – ActionAid Palestine