CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As people prepare to gather with family and friends during the holiday, a North Carolina professor is urging those who know someone affected by conflict to reach out with support.

Dr. Dania Fakhro is an assistant professor of counseling at UNC Charlotte and works with refugees in Charlotte. She also is a refugee herself, who left her home country of Syria during its civil war.

What You Need To Know

  • Dr. Dania Fakhro is an assistant professor of counseling at UNC Charlotte and focuses on refugee support

  • She is a Syrian refugee who left her home country during the civil war

  • She says holidays can be even more difficult mental health-wise for refugees away from their families

  • She encourages those who are close with refugees to reach out to them to see if they are OK

She said this time of year can be especially difficult for refugees.

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, she said reaching out may seem like a small gesture, but it could make a positive impact.

"If you know a person next to you who's impacted or their family are impacted, impacted with what's going on, try to talk to them, check on them,” Fakhro said. “They will appreciate that so much like just seeing or hearing what's going on."

Fakhro says in the last year through her research, she has worked with refugees from the Middle East and Ukraine to help them settle and start fresh in a new place.