When learning is interactive, it gives the learners the opportunity to think about the information in a new way and practically apply it to their lives. At universities throughout the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, we often see that classes are taught in a traditional way using lecture as the primary teaching mechanism, leaving little room [...]
Interview with Dr. Azad Ali, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at Koya University The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has known a long history of violence and persecution, with decades of war, oppression, genocide, and dictatorship. Trauma is passed over from generation to generation and talking about mental health issues is still taboo. [...]
By Ann Knapp, STARS Program Director It’s said that time heals all wounds, but that isn’t the reality for many who’ve experienced unspeakable trauma. Men, women, and children who’ve been impacted by the horrors of ISIS; individuals who have endured violence on the basis of their gender; whole communities that have suffered decades of conflict [...]
The Center for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) at Koya University graduated its first 24 students from the Psychosocial Support Services (PSS) Training Program on November 19, 2017, at Koya University. The Graduation Day included a morning of learning where we brought students and supervisors together in focus groups to learn more about [...]
SEED’s Co-Founder and Vice President Tanya Gilly Khailany, was one of eight speakers during TEDxNishtimanWomen on November 3 in Saad Abdullah Hall in Erbil, Kurdistan Region. Tanya’s speech was about the importance of women’s participation in building peace. “Women’s priorities tend to be different than those of men, Women experience war and peace differently, and women [...]
The Christian Science Monitor / September 21, 2017 Iraq hasn't enough mental health professionals to handle the legions of traumatized children who, because of ISIS, saw and did things they never should have. But if enough teachers can be found, schools could help put them on a path to healing. Read more...
Leena* is a 20-year-old woman from the south of Iraq. Sadly, she lost her mother at a young age and her father died in a bombing when she was a child. Having lost both parents at such an early age, she was forced to live with her relatives. The next nine years of her life, [...]
The conflict in Iraq has had a devastating effect on access to medical care, with over a million displaced people making demands on an already overwhelmed public health system in the Kurdistan Region. Having been cut off from the Iraqi budget since 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government lacks resources to pay salaries, run public hospitals [...]
Children were uniquely victimized by ISIS. First, as bystanders caught in a brutal war, but more shockingly, as soldiers who were recruited, indoctrinated with a deadly ideology, then trained to kill and fight on the battlefield. As they are freed from ISIS, traumatized and untreated, they're now melting back into society -- still heavily influenced [...]
SEED will host its second annual gala dinner event Children in Crisis, in Washington, D.C., on October 2nd, raising funds for its work supporting the recovery of survivors of violence and conflict in Kurdistan, Iraq. SEED is on the front-line delivering critical psychological and social services to women, men, and children who have been displaced and suffered [...]