Psychological Support For Female Entrepreneurs

Intisar Foundation has partnered with Stand For Women, a Beirut-based non-profit organisation, to offer a psychological support programme based on drama therapy to women in business affected by the 2020 Beirut blast.

Following the massive explosions at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, surveys pointed out a reduction in employment opportunities for women and that female headed households were 10% less likely than male headed households to report at least one member generating income in the weeks after the explosion. 

Intisar Foundation and Stand For women believe that empowering women economically does not merely start with providing them with financial support, but with removing the trauma and psychological problems and barriers that it caused.

For that reason, the two organisations teamed up to offer drama therapy sessions to women in business affected by the traumatic events that happened in 2020 in Beirut. 

This intensive 12-week drama therapy programme is designed to improve women’s emotional awareness, create a sense of belonging, and help resolve their trauma, focusing largely on providing a structured and sequential mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) intervention.

Prior to joining, interested participants are requested to take part in a 15-minute phone interview in orderto fill out a questionnaire.

Each drama therapy session lasts for one hour, starting with taking attendance, body temperature of all attendees and personnel, and sanitizing hands. Mid-way through the programme, a focus group discussion will held to assess and evaluate the programme’s progress. One week after the programme ends, the participants who have attended over 80% of the programme will take part in the post-intervention psychological assessment.

Intisar Foundation and Stand For Women aim to help women in Beirut to improve their mental health and build resilience. 

Founded by Caroline Fattal Fakhoury, Stand For Women is a social enterprise supporting women’s empowerment processes across the MENA region. In 2020, Stand For Women launched the Marion Fund initiative -in the memory of Fakhoury’s aunt Marion Hochar Ibrahimchah- to help female-led SMEs affected by the 2020 Beirut blast.

Founded by HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah, Intisar Foundation is a humanitarian organisation officially registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. It has been hailed for developing and introducing an innovative approach to Peacebuilding in the Arab world based on enabling the psychological recovery and self-empowerment of women traumatised by war and violence through the use of drama therapy.