The detention traumatic experience of the 18-year-old boy, M.A., was like all child detention experiences; ill-treatment, breaching of rights, denied education, denied sleeping and family visits and well as using all forms of torture, all of which result in devastating physical and psychosocial impacts for such fragile children. 

M. A. lives in al-Azzeh refugee camp, in Bethlehem . He was twice arrested, spending 3 months on the first. His second detention was harsher, as he says, lasting for a whole year under extensive interrogation and detention. Being arrested is an experience stripping the individual their human dignity and freedom and exposing them to humiliating in-humane treatment all of which result in a variety of psychosocial imbalances and disorders.    

M.A. was arrested from house before his sick mother for whom he felt sorry because he knew she was sad and desperate and always crying her loss. 

M.A. still recalls the cold and dark interrogation rooms, the annoying and loud sound of closing high metal gates, and the inability to tell whether it was day or night. He says: “When they put me in the cell, it felt like being in a narrow cave. It was so cold and I lost any feeling.”

Upon his release, he was approached by the psychosocial counselor of the Rehabilitation Program. Results of the initial assessment indicated PTSD, especially pertinent to the psychological and behavioral aspects as well as communication with others. Moreover, he had sleeping disorders with nightmares and his relation with his family members was also disturbed.  

His mother says: “My son has changed a lot; he would panic from any sound he hears; he is always alone; I am so concerned and worried.”
The psychosocial rehabilitation plan was set and he could restore his self-confidence, manage his reactions and emotions, get his self-awareness enhanced as well as discovering his points of strength, potentials and inclinations. 

He had also received academic guidance sessions as he was thinking of quitting school, when he was a high school student with interrupted attendance. He was engaged in remedial education classes along with engaging his teachers for more support and encouragement. 

The intervention was holistic and resulted in making a real positive change; his family relations improved, his social participation increased, his academic attainment enhanced, he could control his fears, he was able to diminish negative perspectives, his belief in his own strengths and potentials enhanced and he became more balanced in all walks of his life.

M.A. says: “Considering my situation after the release, I never even imagined that I would reach the point where I enroll in the high school exams. Yet, I did. It was like a hopeless matter that became a reality. I am full of hopes for a bright future ahead.”