Alaa Mahdi Kudaih

Alaa Mahdi Kudaih is a Gazan who was born in the United Arab Emirates and moved to the Gaza Strip in 2011, where she lived for 7 years. She is an alumni of the Bridge Palestine Program. In 2018, she won a full scholarship from the Turkish government to study psychological counseling and guidance, and she is now is a senior at Sakarya University. She volunteers with Red Cross of Turkey and is a photographer and content creator.

Alaa is a founder of “Dmma Therapy,” which aims to share and publish information that promotes awareness about mental health. She conducts psychological counseling sessions in Turkish, English, and Arabic, both face to face and online, under the supervision of her professor. She is now a psychological counselor intern at Şehit Üsteğmen Selçuk Esedoğlu Anatolian High School. She likes to quote Gandhi: “Be the change that you want to see in the world,” and believes that mental health is essential for anyone who wants to change the world.