Dear IMET2000-PAL

Children's mental health is often something that is neglected of health care, and it has such a powerful impact on long-term health and wellness for children and families, mental health problems when they present in childhood are real and are treatable and yet they often go unrecognized and when they go and recognize they cannot get better on their own.

I asked myself many times why kids? Why child psychiatry?

they are the tiny humans, they are children, they believe in magic they play pretends, they hope and they cross their fingers and they make wishes, and that makes them more resilient than adults, they recover faster survived worse, they believe, in kids we have miracles and magic, in kids anything is possible…

I started my residency in Psychiatry on July 1st, 2018. Over the past 3 years of work in the Psychiatric unit at King Abdullah University Hospital, I have fulfilled the requirements, gained a lot of skills. My rotation in psychiatry has been diverse and very useful. I had the opportunity to perform two different rotations with highly qualified specialists both inpatient and outpatient services. This great opportunity helped me to substantially enhance my knowledge in various fields of the specialty. I gained firsthand experience with most emergencies and common psychiatric illnesses. Furthermore, night shifts have taught me a lot about responsibility and self-confidence.

I passed part one of the Arab board exam. In addition, I have been preparing for the MRCPsych exam that is expected to take place next few months.

Finally, I very much appreciate your continued support and with this scholarship, I look forward to contributing to improving mental health services in Palestine.

Dr. Omar Al- Ashhab