This child psychiatrist is saving refugees from trauma

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Essam Daod is a child psychiatrist using a groundbreaking approach to help Syrian refugee children handle their trauma effectively by narrowing in on the key moment that can prevent PTSD in children.

The world news over the past few years has been filled with coverage of the Syrian civil war. Caught in the crossfire of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad and various rebel and terror groups, millions of Syrians have fled by sea hoping to reach Greece or other places to take refuge.

The toll of the brutal civil war and dangerous journey across the Mediterranean on the mental health of Syrian children is so extreme that it has been coined “Human Devastation Syndrome.” Israeli Arab doctor Essam Daod was so moved by their plight that he went to the Greek island of Lesvos in order to help treat their mental health as a form of first aid. He is using an innovative technique in order to help stop PTSD in children: helping them process trauma by creating a new internal narrative of what happened to them. He’s also recruited lots of other volunteers and training child therapists to help deal with the large numbers of people and kids migrating. Could this approach be used to prevent PTSD in children in other scenarios?

Essam Daod is just one of the incredible social activists finding solutions to our world’s complex problems. If you’re interested in learning how leaders like Essam do it, take a look at our recent video, How To Change The World, where we sit down with Oliva Leland as she shares 3 lessons learned from organizations, philanthropists, and social change leaders that move the world forward.

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