An Australian charity is helping doctors treat Israeli and Palestinian children with PTSD

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is taking its toll on the mental health of children. But a group of people are trying to change that.

The ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is taking its toll on the mental health of children, with experts warning of a looming mental health crisis.

An expert in pediatric psychiatry in Jerusalem Professor Esti Galili-Weisstub said children, who have long been exposed to violence and war, were not getting the treatment they need.

“Access in Israel is poor; access in the Palestinian Authority is miserable,” she told SBS News.

“In Israel children have to wait 4-6 months to be seen by a therapist, and in the West Bank and Gaza, some of them don’t even have a chance to get to a therapist, and they are being helped by a teacher, an untrained social worker and so on.”

Professor Galili-Weisstub runs the Bi-National School of Psychotherapy, which is funded by the Australian charity Project Rozana.

The school is in its second year of educating Israeli and Palestinian psychologists how to treat post-traumatic stress in children.

Read the article and watch the report on SBS TV News.