Originally aired on October 28th, 2023

On October 7th… the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an assault on Israel… killing more than 1,400 people… Israel then responded… ordering a “complete siege” of Gaza…

The Health Ministry in Gaza released a list of over 6,700 people it says have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory…

In the midst of this constant conflict… are the lives of those living through this… those who have lost family members, friends… as well as homes and businesses… those who have lost, in many aspects, an entire way of life…

KCBS’s Eric Thomas and Nikki Meduro spoke with Shachar May… IsraAID spokesperson.. she's based in Tel Aviv and has been working with teams on the ground providing aid to communities there… and part of that aid is on the mental health side of things…

All this trauma…from this recent war…and carried over from all the conflicts before… can take a definite toll on one’s mental health… but who do you turn to for help, for understanding… when perhaps the faith that bolsters you… isn’t enough?

This is a topic that Dr. Raina Awaad is all too familiar with… She is a clinical associate professor with the department of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine… as well the director of the Stanford Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab…

She has spent years looking at the role that faith plays in a person’s life when they are struggling with trauma, with mental health issues… and how to reconcile one’s beliefs, one’s trust in a higher power… with the need for an outside helping hand…