Arabs in Israel are suffering an acute shortage of clinical psychologists and Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) says she has found the solution.

“It is important for Arabs to have access to Arab psychologists because of language and cultural differences that can impede proper treatment,” Zoabi told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

For example, if an eight-year old Arab child rape victim does not speak Hebrew, the psychologist will not be able to optimally treat the patient, she explained. There can be a six-month wait to see an Arab psychologist.

Only 2.5 percent of psychologists are Arabs, while 90% of Arabs who need mental health treatment don’t get it, Zoabi said earlier this month at a discussion in the Knesset’s Social Welfare and Health Committee.

Students that finish an MA degree in clinical psychologist in Israel must then enter a four-year training period - two years in a health clinic and two in a psychiatric hospital. There is a long waiting list to get into the training period and many Arab students wait a long period before even getting accepted.

Some psychology students end up following a different career path as the wait becomes too long.

Zoabi’s office inquired with health clinics regarding the shortage and Israel’s largest health care clinic, Clalit Health Services responded in a letter this week saying that out of 140 training spots, 16 are for Arabs.

First, Zoabi said, few Arabs study psychology and that more need to be persuaded to do so.

Second, the MK said, an affirmative action program needs to be implemented so that more Arabs enter the four-year training program. There is an acute need and a program coordinated by the Health Ministry, health clinics, and universities could facilitate a boost in numbers of Arab psychologists, she added.

And third, a special educational program should be created so that students that studied educational psychology can switch over to clinical psychology, Zoabi said.

At the Knesset Social Welfare and Health Committee meeting this month, MK Dov Henin said the mental health clinics in Umm el-Fahm and Shfaram were collapsing. MK Jamal Zahalka had said tough admissions requirements deterred many Arab students from seeking a master’s degree in psychology.

Health Ministry chief psychologist Yemima Goldberg countered that new psychology programs for Arab students and graduates have been opened but “the number of registrants is small.

“There is budget for it, and whoever wants to specialize can get a personal scholarship,” Goldberg said.

JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH contributed to this report.