“Bailasan,” a balm for mental health issues in the Holy Land

The Bailasan Counseling Center is the first Catholic psychosocial and mental health institution aimed exclusively at helping the Christian community in the West Bank. ACN funded the renovation work at the center and, during a recent visit, spoke to those whose job is to care for a people suffering from a variety of traumas, resulting from the prevailing political and economic tensions in the Holy Land. 

In a survey of close to 300 Palestinian Christians, conducted between October and December 2023, just as the Gaza War was getting underway, found that 60 percent of those who responded identified a need for mental health and counseling sessions.  

The staff at the Bailasan Counseling Center, which operates in Bethlehem in the West Bank, believe that if the survey was repeated today, the number would be significantly higher. 

The war between Israel and Hamas is taking place in Gaza, but its effects are felt all over the Holy Land and the entire Middle East region, further dividing a society already suffering from bitter and long-lasting antagonisms and mutual suspicion.  

For Christians in the West Bank, the situation is aggravated by the fact that they are a shrinking minority in relation to an overwhelmingly Muslim population, which has been showing signs of growing radicalization over the years.  

During a visit by a delegation from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which funded the restoration work and the job creation program at the center, psychologist Albert Khader Hani described the current situation: “We’re facing different problems, including occupation and violence. The war affects all aspects of people’s lives here, especially Palestinian Christians. It is our responsibility as leading Palestinian Christians to work with them, because there are a lot of mental health centers here, but they do not focus exclusively on the Christian community. We have our own identity, and we want to save it, and to continue our vision with them, to live safely.” 

Faced with this situation, and the very limited solutions presented by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem decided to open the Bailasan Counseling Center in June 2024. The center’s team – which includes staff hired through an ACN-funded job creation program – already has its hands full, despite the cultural tabus regarding mental health. 

“We are trying to fight stigma; some people are afraid to come here. People think they might be judged; they are afraid of sharing their problem,” says Sister Lorena Cecilia, a Mexican Comboni missionary with a degree in psychology.  

“You can’t live outside of your culture. As families, we are afraid to be affiliated with mentally ill health. We all know each other, and so we are reluctant to seek help. So, our job here is not easy! Despite this, things are much better than before. And the success of our work has already begun to effect a change in the culture,” adds Albert Khaled Hani. 

“Physically, they are here; mentally, they think only of emigrating” 

One solution the center has found is not to wait for people to come to it, but to go out and meet the community where it is: in youth groups, scout troops, support groups for mothers of children with special needs, parishes, and schools. 

The work with young people is especially important, Sister Lorena says, since many of them are so set on leaving their homeland, they neglect the present. “A big problem is the separation of families, parents abroad, or children planning to go abroad. Young girls, for example, do not imagine themselves living here. That leads to problems in the way they are living their life; their daily decisions are focused on an eventual departure. Physically, they are here; mentally, they are thinking only of emigrating.”   

The Bailasan Center is currently the only Christian-run health center that caters exclusively to Christians. “This sort of work, through Christian values, has never been done before. We are not like other centers; we are Bible-based. If a non-Christian comes to us, we refer them to another center,” says Hala Batarseh, a social worker who is originally from Bethlehem. 

The center is located in a beautiful building near central Bethlehem, which used to be a convent. ACN helped cover the renovation of the building, as well as the lovely and tranquil healing garden outside, the latter through its job creation program.  

The word “bailasan” is Arabic for “balm” and is inspired by Jeremiah 8:22: “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” The staff of the Bailasan center aims to be a soothing balm for the psychological troubles of a traumatized people in a war-torn region.