Support Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan

Hadeel drives two hours each way to reach Azraq Refugee Camp from Amman. As a Mental Health Program Officer for International Medical Corps, she makes the journey to serve the refugees of Jordan’s second largest refugee camp—home to 36,000 men, women and children who have fled Syria’s seven-year-long civil war. Supporting the mental health needs of dozens of refugees who have experienced severe distress and loss, her work can be exhausting and deeply challenging, but for Hadeel it has become her passion and her life’s purpose.

“When you work with clients with mental illness, you deal with their souls: the most sensitive, delicate part of our bodies. You touch their pain closely, offering support and love. And you always remind them how brave they are for fighting to recover” Hadeel says.

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Hadeel grew up in Jordan, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy. At Azraq Camp, Hadeel provides case management services to refugees at International Medical Corps’ static clinics and through home visits to help them cope with their psychological wounds. On some days she becomes physically and emotionally drained, but credits the steadfast support of her colleagues and family for helping her to maintain the drive to continue on.

With each patient, Hadeel conducts a comprehensive mental health assessment to understand her clients’ needs, connect them with the appropriate services and chart a course for recovery. Hadeel serves as an advocate for patients and monitors their progress throughout the entire cycle of care to ensure they receive the mental health and psychosocial support they need. With many refugees at Azraq Camp having been separated from their families, experienced violence or fled for their lives, Hadeel’s work is vital to ensuring that they can cope with the crisis in a positive way and envision a brighter future.

Hadeel and her colleagues have provided 1,519 case management sessions and 1,290 psychiatric consultations to refugees at Azraq Camp over the last six months. Due the complex and widespread mental health needs of refugees in Jordan, the need for mental health services at Azraq camp remains high. Our mental health team at Azraq Camp welcomed more than 600 new clients in the beginning of 2018, with over a quarter of them being children under the age of 18.

Because of the stigma surrounding mental illness in Jordan and among Syrian refugees, Hadeel is also combatting the stereotypes surrounding seeking care by raising awareness of the importance of mental health and the support services available at Azraq Camp. With girls in particular often forbidden from accessing mental health services by their families because of the belief that the association will affect their marriage prospects, Hadeel strives to dispel harmful misconceptions and stereotypes about mental illness to ensure that refugees at Azraq Camp, and especially girls, are able to access the mental health care services they need.

We thank the GlobalGiving community for their support of International Medical Corps and Syrian refugees as we provide needed mental health and other services to individuals and families at Azraq Camp.

For more information about our mental health and psychosocial support work worldwide, please see https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/program/mental-health-psychosocial-support/