Ramallah – The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) held a training course titled “Psychological-health skill development for national security force personnel in the psycho-social counseling unit”, as part of the Children Friendly Mobile Units project implemented in partnership with the Italian Cooperation and COSPE. The training took place over a 4-day period at the Ankars Suites & Hotel in Ramallah. 37 counselors from the Palestinian National Security Forces (NSF) participated in the sessions.
The training addressed theoretical and practical skills in psychological health, psychological resilience, and psychological immunity. As well as individual and group counseling, in addition to psychological trauma and loss. It focused on crisis intervention, loss, psychological first aid skills, psychological debriefing skills, and psychological protection for law enforcement personnel, occupational burnout, and stress management.
The course implemented practical applications of therapeutic listening skills, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises, and psychodrama, which helped relieve stress and work pressures. The acting exercise was also an opportunity to discuss how to deal with stress and problems that the unit faces out on the field.
The participants expressed their gratitude and appreciation of PWWSD, and stressed the need to do more of these specialized training courses. As psychosocial counselors working in a military institution, the participants noted that taking part in these courses serves to support the focus on counseling in the institution, as the courses discuss how to deal with crises in need of immediate intervention. In addition to intervening for individual and group counseling cases and reaffirming psychological safe spaces in the individual’s psyche. It is worth mentioning that military personnel constitute a large segment of society and they experience heightened psychological stress due to the nature of their work, as well as the political climate affecting Palestinian society as a whole.
The last day of the course included a certificate-awarding ceremony attended by Deputy Head of the NSF, Brig. Yousef al-Abed; PWWSD General Director, Amal Khreisheh; NSF Psychosocial Counseling Unit Director, Chief Issa Jaradat; and mobile unit project Director, Valerio Baldissera. A certificate of appreciation was awarded from the NSF to PWWSD, noting the need for continued partnership and cooperation between the organization and the NSF.