Introducing Jalsaty: An Online Mental Health Counseling Platform

Mental health has been a crucial topic in recent years. It’s even more crucial today as the world deals with a pandemic leaving people locked away in their homes as an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. In addition to ensuring people take the necessary health and safety measures, health authorities also urge those at home to take care of their mental health.

For those at home, struggling with their mental and psychological well-being in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a new online platform called Jalsaty offers you an opportunity to speak with licensed psychological counselors from the comfort of your own home.

Jalsaty was recently established in the UAE by two young UAE-based entrepreneurs, 27-year-old Duaa Sidi from Sudan and 22-year-old Jaber Sari Hubeishi from Jordan. Sidi is a business administration graduate and digital marketer. Hubeishi holds a PR and advertising bachelor’s degree and currently pursuing a master’s degree in brand management. ‘We have known each other for seven years now and we studied at the same university, Eastern Mediterranean University, in Northern Cyprus. We have been best friends ever since,’ they said.

They have now developed a business partnership, launching Jalsaty, which is Arabic for ‘my session’, on June 2020. ‘Jalsaty is an online platform that connects people to licensed counselors to help them deal with life challenges. Counselors could be reached through text, phone, and video calls using our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) platform. People can reach Jalsaty by going to jalsaty.com and easily clicking ‘start here’ and the website will walk you through the whole process,’ they explained.

On Jalsaty, licensed counselors will help those suffering from depression, sadness, anxiety and trauma as well as with relationship and life challenges, in general.

‘For so long, some Arab societies saw mental health as a false profession, and [those suffering from mental illnesses is] a sign of someone being crazy or delusional, and sometimes brings shame to the family. We are trying to change that and spread awareness to let people take mental health as a serious issue. Anyone can go through depression, trauma, or even grief, this gives us a purpose to break the barrier and make this something normal that anyone can go through and recover from,’ they said.

According to ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, mental health is an issue many young Arabs are familiar with, yet access is quality medical care is scarce. One third of young Arabs say they know someone suffering from mental health issues and nearly 50% say there is a stigma around seeking medical care for mental health issues.

The inspiration behind Jalsaty originates from when Hubeishi and Sidi worked with One World United, which is an organisation that helps refugees settle in Canada. ‘As we helped them with technical interrogations side by side with the founder/CEO, Nour Alard, we saw that many people in the Arab world are not getting access to mental health services, and now, we are in negotiations to make refugees seek free sessions on Jalsaty.com,’ they said.

‘We also noticed the percentage of people getting divorced in the MENA region is dramatically increasing, and we want to change that by helping people get couples therapy to treat the main cause of their problems,’ they added.

The platform is currently only in Arabic, as they are mainly targeting people within the MENA region. ‘We need to mark our ground in many countries [in the region]. Online counseling is not that known in the Middle East and North Africa, starting with something authentic will give us the push we need from our society. Soon, we will have an English platform for people wishing to get counseled in English,’ they explained.

In addition to spreading awareness about mental health, with Jalsaty, Hubeishi and Sidi aim to make mental health services accessible, reliable, and affordable in the region. ‘Creating awareness about this cause is something that will benefit the future of the Middle East and North Africa. We are all one, and during this pandemic we need to stick together and help each one out. Stay safe from all of us at Jalsaty,’ they said.

For more information on Jalsaty, visit jalsaty.com or find them on Facebook, Instagram (@jalsatytherapy), or Twitter (@Jalsaty).