Healing in exile: One refugee’s mission to boost mental health

There are now more than 122 million people worldwide, forcibly displaced from their homes. While trauma, depression and anxiety are prevalent says the UN World Health Organization (WHO), many refugees and migrants struggle to access mental health services.

Jîn Dawod is an entrepreneur from Syria who fled to Türkiye to escape the brutal war. Suffering post-traumatic stress disorder herself, she created Peace Therapist, a pioneering social technology initiative dedicated to providing online mental health services to vulnerable populations – free of charge. 

UN News’s Emma Trager-Lewis caught up with her after she took part in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation this week in New York.

Emma began by asking Ms. Dawod when she first came up with her game-changing idea.