If you or someone you know is going through a difficult time, experiencing emotional distress or mental health issues, the most important first step is to talk to someone.
Trained professionals, services and support for mental health are available in Qatar.
Whether a person is experiencing symptoms for the first time, has had repeated episodes or needs additional support for a diagnosed condition – help is available and seeking support early ensures the greatest chance of recovery.
The HMC Mental Health Service provides a range of, largely, centralized services for people with mental health problems and/or mental illness. It currently provides an inpatient and outpatient service which is also supported by a number of community based services. These include:
Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC) provides access to non-urgent mental health services to people with mild to moderate common mental health problems, including depression and anxiety. All physicians have been trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of common mental health conditions. Services include early identification through assessments, treatment of common mental health conditions and onward referral to primary care psychology or secondary care mental health services. Primary care psychology is a regional service provided by psychologists and social workers and is available to adults registered across all health centers in Qatar.
Primary care psychological therapies (commonly known as Support Clinics) are established at Leabaib, Rawdat AlKhail, Al Thumamaand Al Wajbah health centers. Patients can be referred to Support Clinic via their physician.
PHCC also provides advice and information on health promotion/education and access to wellness facilities.
Referral Process:
No referral is required to access mental health services in PHCC. Patients can access mental health services through an appointment with a physician in any of the health centers.
Location and Hours of Operation:
For more information about operating hours in all health centers please visit - www.phcc.qa
Sidra Medicine
The Department of Psychiatry at Sidra Medicine provides child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) and perinatal mental health services to the children and families in Qatar and the region. Their mission is to improve the quality of mental health services in Qatar by putting children, adolescents, women and their families at the center of their care. This care will be delivered by a team of multi-disciplinary clinical staff who will provide evidence based treatment and interventions. Services are available in the outpatient clinic, pediatric emergency setting or within the hospital setting as part of psychiatry's consultation liaison service for existing in-patients within Sidra Medicine.
Treatment is provided to children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years of age who have serious emotional disturbance. The target group includes young people with a diagnosable psychiatric disorder whose condition is detrimental to their growth or development and /or who have serious difficulties in their social group, school or family. If appropriate, the child will be referred out to other paraprofessionals such as speech, occupational, physical therapists and social workers.
Services include comprehensive diagnostic evaluations, individual therapy, family therapy, medication management and follow-up visits.
Exclusions:
For further information please visit their website:
http://www.sidra.org/clinical-division/child-adolescent-mental-health/
Perinatal Mental Health Services provide and advocate for services for women during pregnancy and the postpartum period with a focus on treatment, prevention and promotion of emotional wellbeing. The care provided will be holistic, culturally sensitive and person centered.
The perinatal mental health service “Women's Wellbeing Clinic" is co-located with obstetric outpatient services on and the perinatal mental health team are able to provide consultation and liaison to inpatients of Women's Services in the main hospital.
Given that perinatal mental health includes attention to the mental health and wellbeing of infants, the team also is able to provide consultation and liaison to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and families and babies with mental health concerns in the paediatric wards.
Known Diagnosis:
http://www.sidra.org/clinical-division/womens-mental-health/
CAMHS
The Sidra Outpatient Clinic will provide specialized healthcare to children and adolescents after they have been referred by their primary or secondary healthcare practitioners, school counselors and psychologists. Referrals will be triaged based on the severity of condition. Sidra Medicine accepts electronic and paper referrals. Providers with information systems interoperable to that of Sidra Medicine can refer electronically, and this is the quickest referral pathway. Incomplete referrals may not be able to be accepted and may delay patient treatment due as further information may be requested from the referrer. The process for referrals can be found in the link below:
http://www.sidra.org/referrals-and-patients/the-referral-system/
The referral pathway is summarized below. Following receipt of the referral, the patient is contacted by the triage nurse who arranges appointments as clinically indicated.
Naufar
Based in Doha, Naufar is a groundbreaking new sanctuary for wellness and the treatment of substance use and related behavioral disorders.
Naufar is a purpose-built facility that includes 127 residential rooms together with clinics and over 50 individual and group treatment/therapy rooms. Care is provided by experts in mental health, physical health, occupational health and addiction. Medically-led multidisciplinary teams address the neurobiological basis of addiction, the patients' relationship with their family, their work, as well as common areas of concern in addiction including chronic pain, depression, anxiety and trauma. Naufar offers residential and non-residential programs, assessment services, individualized treatment, and community awareness programs.
Wellness and hospitality are intricately integrated with the provision of care which is designed to attract, engage and retain patients. A key objective of hospitality is to cultivate a stimulating environment that supports wellbeing and motivation to change and grow. Wellness addresses the whole person, on an emotional, physical, social, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, financial and environmental basis. Wellness serves to unify the process of care offered by Naufar in addition to assessing the quality of such services. Naufar's patient-centered model is informed by a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment of the individual's own immediate supportive care requirements, along with their short and long-term goals and aspirations. The patient's care journey is continually directed towards health and ever-evolving wellness.
Naufar operates under the auspices of the Qatar Ministry of Public Health.
For more information contact procurement@naufar.com
Private Sector
There are range of other private facilities available in Qatar which offer Mental Health related support and services. To ensure quality of care, people are encouraged to check and make sure these professionals and services are registered and regulated. To obtain more information please visit SearchPractitionersPage