What We Do
Our Story
In the wake of disasters, natural or manmade, ordinary people bear the brunt of material and psychological suffering; they also carry the weight of response and recovery. When adverse conditions persist, ordinary people are burdened the most. And help, while greatly needed, is not always available. Unfortunately, we have seen this in many places in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Magenta Mind is the result of cumulative frustration over the lack of appropriate responses to the increasing challenges for communities in great need. It came about as a call to action after the disastrous earthquakes that devastated large swathes of southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria in 2023. People across the region, especially those impacted by over a decade of conflict, desperately needed help. For many, help never came. It became necessary to think creatively about bringing effective assistance into areas that seemed out of reach.
Our solution is to combine remote learning technology with community building strategies. We focus on mental wellness because we see it as both a tool and an end to direct and lasting impact in the face of prolonged suffering. That is why the majority of our programming is delivered through live interaction between trainees and culturally competent specialists.
As one traumatic event follows another, the need for emotional and psychological support continues to increase, but local resources are woefully limited. We tackle the lack of access to mental health specialists by bridging the gaps that cause it, and we do so remotely through online training.
Our goal is to facilitate the transfer of expert knowledge in mental health across boundaries of geography, language, economy, education, religion, ethnicity, culture, and academic background.
Our Programs
The programs we develop at Magenta Mind are in four areas: Community Training, Specialist Training, Music, and Research. Projects within the Community and Specialist Training programs are under way, with Project Syria being the most developed and Lebanon Response being the most recent, in these two areas. Our Music program is in the planning phase, and our Research program is still in early development (more information to follow).
Our Community Training program engages mental health specialists and provides context-specific training to groups working on the ground. We prioritize those in greatest need and with the most potential to benefit from training. Our trainees are groups and individuals who are active in community mental health work but have little or no access to professional guidance. We design, develop, and deliver courses in close conversation with the recipient groups, and we engage with the trainees throughout the course, including through evaluations and with follow-up support where possible.
Our Specialist Training program enables mental health professionals to enhance their skills and knowledge through continuing education and specialized training courses. Equally, we aim to support members of our beneficiary communities who wish to train in mental health fields through academic and professional qualification.
Our Music program fosters community wellness through shared expression and meaningful experiences. It is grounded in close collaboration with local partners to design and curate music-based programming that is culturally sensitive and specific to their needs. We aim to create spaces for musical experiences that have a healing effect on individual wellness and social bonds.
Our Current Focus
At Magenta Mind we are aware of the acute need for training in mental health in contexts of ongoing or recent conflict. While our mission is not limited to a specific area, our existing programming serves the people of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, where isolation and severe economic hardship leave many local communities with dwindling internal resources.
Syria, with a protracted conflict, is a case in point. War, natural disasters, and a devastated economy have eroded the healthcare system while increasing the need for mental health care. According to the UN, 16.7 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance in 2024, with many needing psychosocial support.
For Syrians in other countries, the need is no less pronounced. Although they may have access to mental health services, targeted and culturally appropriate training is lacking. Some host countries suffer from limited mental health resources, and better resourced countries often struggle to provide culturally relevant care.
In Lebanon, where peace seemed elusive for decades, the past few years and the recent return of large-scale war are displacing hundreds of thousands, not for the first time in the case of most.
The need for training in mental health neither starts nor stops at the borders of the counties in question. It extends to the millions of displaced people across the region and beyond, settled or in transition, wherever they may be. That is why our programming aims to reach the communities in need regardless of geographic location.