Mental Health / Youth Leadership Development / Community Research

Mental Health

TAMKEEN’s mental health program offers support group and psycho-education sessions in Brooklyn and Queens. Led and facilitated by healthcare professionals, groups meet once a week for 90 minutes. Currently, we have support groups organized around the following topics:

• Parenting
• Women’s Issues and Self-Development
• Nutrition
• Preventive Health Care

To join or to obtain more information, please contact us at 718.701.3005.

TAMKEEN provides referrals to bilingual, licensed mental health providers for individual and/or family counseling. These services are provided at low-cost. For referrals, please contact us at 718.701.3005.

As a member of the NY State Task Force on Underserved Populations, TAMKEEN raises the awareness of health professionals and policymakers on the mental health needs affecting the Arab immigrant community and the need to ensure the availability of culturally competent services.

Youth Leadership Development

High school students are at a critical age, where they are exploring their identity and place in the world. Like children of other immigrants, Arab American youth are often caught having to navigate between two different cultures at home and in school. Since 9/11, Arab American youth also contend with the hostility of their student peers leading them to feel increasingly isolated.

To ensure a safe environment where Arab American youth can explore their identities and opportunities for the future, TAMKEEN is launching a Youth Career Development Program this summer. Every week, TAMKEEN will invite youth to learn about the different career paths available to them. Youth will hear from professionals from a range of fields (i.e. arts, sciences, humanities) who will discuss their career choices, what inspired them, what skills they needed, how they got to where they are, and important lessons learned along the way.

For more information, please contact us at 718.701.3005.

Community research and education

Very little data exists on the social service needs of the Arab immigrant community. To underscore our community’s resource needs and to improve the availability of services, TAMKEEN recognizes the importance of partnering with academic and policy institutes to document them.

Together with the NYU Center for Immigrant Health, TAMKEEN implemented a focus group study examining community knowledge, attitudes and beliefs on health issues - cancer screening and mental health – as well as the community’s access to insurance and services. A report will be issued at the end of the summer in 2005.

For more information, you may contact us at 718.701.3005.