Gaza: Students Suffering War Trauma Get Mental Health Support

A Muslim students’ group at Ohio State University has started offering mental health programs to help students manage collective trauma since the start of the war on Gaza last October 7.

The Muslim Students’ Association said the new programs followed an influx of Muslim students looking for mental health resources.

“It was clear that the students in attendance had a lot of pain, some of which was reported to be a result of the silence they experience in their classrooms,” Ihsan Rodriguez, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Ohio State and trainee at Ohio State’s Psychological Services Center, told The Lantern.

Rodriguez led an event for MSA on Wednesday meant to help students manage “collective trauma in the wake of the occupation in Palestine,” according to the association’s Instagram.

The workshop offered an opportunity for students to engage in Islamic prayers, practical skills to reframe thinking, and strategies for managing grief symptoms.

Healing Together

Jamil Aboushaar, a third-year in neuroscience and the association’s outreach chair, said MSA provides a space for students to heal and connect with others feeling the same impact they feel.

“A lot of our members have family members and loved ones who have suffered as a result of what’s going on in Gaza,” Aboushaar said.

“When one part of our community is ailing, the entire community feels the pain and comes together to relieve and support our brothers and sisters. MSA provides the space for that support to happen, and it is a critical part of many Muslim students’ lives on campus.”

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever“. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

At least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.

The number includes at least 5,500 children and 3,500 women who have been killed in the ongoing war in Gaza.

SOURCE: https://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/n-america/gaza-war-students-suffering-trauma-get-mental-health-support/