Nablus – The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) held a series of psychosocial activities in Nablus, this was implemented through a support group titled “psychological self-defense” held at the Ministry of Labor’s Vocational Training Center. The goal of the group was to raise the participants’ awareness of their psychological, social, and personal needs, as well as psychological self-defense mechanisms on intellectual, behavioral, familial, and societal levels. The group targeted 16 young women with 8 weekly sessions. The participants expressed their gratitude and happiness to join these sessions, in addition to enriching their knowledge from the information and activities addressed in them.
The counselling department at PWWSD held a developmental training group targeting 26 psychology and sociology students at An-Najah National University. The group was formed to put forward a framework of the knowledge and theory gained at university. Additionally, a number of psychosocial issues were addressed, as well as counselling issues that can provide the participants with a number of different counselling skills. The participants expressed how much they benefited from the interaction in this group, and showed their willingness to take part in future PWWSD activities.
The PWWSD psychological counselling program also implemented a recreational debriefing activity for workers at Rafidia Surgical Hospital, in cooperation with the hospital’s social work department. Participants included 19 doctors, nurses, physical therapists, radiologists, pharmacists, lab technicians, and janitorial staff. The activities varied between motion, mental, and paper exercises that positively shifted the participants’ energy. Who expressed their happiness with this session, and the need to implement similar activities on a semi-weekly basis, as they are essential in alleviating everyday stress.