Co-sponsored by the American Family Therapy Academy, AFTA, http://www.afta.org/ and the

Global Mental Health Initiative at MSPP

Khawla Abu-Baker, Ph.D., instructor

Palestinian families’ narratives of loss during the Second Intifada in the West Bank and during the Second Lebanese War in Israel will be addressed, in religious and cultural contexts. Both groups coped with loss collectively, congruent with their shared cultural and religious backgrounds. On the West Bank, losses had an ongoing nature, while in Israel, loss mostly involved single events. In addition, the relationships of each population with the State of Israel shaped their citizenship identity, and consequently, their personal reactions to the loss. Research data and clinical findings will illustrate the comparisons between these two groups of Palestinian families.

Upon completion of the program the student will be able to:

·         Participants will have a better understanding of the importance of cultural narratives in  traumatic events, in relation to Palestinian cultural, religious, and political contexts.

Program Code: WTL4 
4 CE Credits
Location: at MSPP, Newton

Khawla Abu-Baker, Ph.D., is the first Palestinian to earn a Ph.D in family therapy. She graduated in 1997 from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale. She is on the faculty of the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, where she became the first Palestinian woman in Israel to be named an assistant professor, and at Al-Qasimi College, both in Northern Israel. In addition to her private practice, she has been involved in pioneering projects such as working with Palestinians, victims of Child Sexual Abuse inside Israel, of the Second intifada in the West Bank, and of the Second Lebanese War in Israel. She is involved in two international consultation groups that train therapists to work in culturally sensitive ways. She gives lectures and workshops nationally and internationally. Her publications shed light on issues never studied before among Arab or Palestinian societies, including war trauma, sexual abuse, and grief.