Peer-reviewed article
In the Shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Reflections on Cultural Safety and Clinical Care for Children and Adolescents in Quebec (Canada) in Polarized Times.
Rousseau C, Miconi D, Kronick R, Hassan G ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects children and adolescents in Quebec, Canada, particularly those from affected communities. It discusses how the conflict can influence therapeutic relationships, symptom presentation, and behavior in clinical and school settings. The authors argue that clinicians need cultural awareness and systemic approaches to maintain safe, supportive care for young people navigating polarized environments. The paper emphasizes addressing underlying distress and community divisions rather than avoiding difficult conversations.
Key points
- The conflict has indirect and direct clinical consequences for children and youth in North America, including those not directly affected by the violence
- The conflict can alter the therapeutic alliance in unspoken ways, requiring ongoing attention to cultural and contextual factors
- The conflict's traumatic impact can influence symptom presentation in both subtle and overt ways
- Internalization of the conflict can prompt challenging behaviors that may elicit stigmatizing clinical or social responses
- A systemic assessment considering family, school and community context is necessary to preserve cultural safety
Limitations
This is a reflective, clinically-informed paper based on experiences in Quebec rather than a systematic study with quantified outcomes. It does not provide empirical data on the prevalence or magnitude of these clinical presentations, nor does it evaluate specific interventions.
Abstract
The ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict has significant consequences for children, youth and families from diverse communities in North America. In a time of widening social polarization, many children and youth are implicated in reiterations of the conflict at home, at school or in their neighborhoods. This divisive context has numerous indirect and direct clinical consequences requiring clinicians' awareness, attunement, and skillful response. Building on clinical experiences in Quebec (Canada), this paper questions the cultural safety of clinical interventions at three levels. First, the conflict can alter the therapeutic alliance in unspoken ways, requiring ongoing attention to cultural and contextual securitization. Second, because of its potentially traumatic impact, the conflict can influence symptom presentation in subtle or overt ways. Third, the internalization of the conflict can prompt forms of challenging acting-out, potentially eliciting stigmatizing clinical or social responses. Overall, preserving cultural safety in this context requires favouring a systemic assessment of the patient and their lived experiences, considering simultaneously the family, school and community context. Minimizing silence and avoidance by addressing the possible distress and divisions-or indeed outright divergences-within clinical and school teams may foster a respectful and safe enough environment, in spite of the differences in meaning within and across heterogeneous communities.