Rethinking Student Mental Health
in Moroccan Schools
Executive Summary and strategic reflections from the Morocco–U.S. International Roundtable convened by ImpactForge Consulting — a cross-border dialogue on student wellbeing, school psychology, and the transformation of educational ecosystems.
Across Morocco's schools, the question of student mental health has moved from the margins of policy conversation to the center of public concern. Yet the systems built to respond — clinical, fragmented, often reactive — were not designed for the relational, developmental, and structural realities that today's students inhabit.
This publication captures the reflections of a Morocco–U.S. international roundtable convened by ImpactForge Consulting in May 2026: a ninety-minute, closed-door conversation bringing together psychologists, educators, policy researchers, and systems-change practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic.
The dialogue was anchored in a single premise — that durable change in student wellbeing will not come from a better diagnostic instrument or a new training module alone, but from the redesign of the system in which schools, families, ministries, and communities relate to one another.
ImpactForge Consulting exists to build precisely those bridges: convening expertise, translating evidence into policy, and connecting Moroccan and American ecosystems around the questions that matter most for the next generation.
Eight Strategic Lenses
The themes that organized the conversation — and now organize the publication.
Systems Thinking
Seeing the school as a node within a wider ecosystem of family, policy, and community.
Student Wellbeing
Centering the developing person, not the diagnosis, as the unit of design.
School Psychology
Building the institutional capacity to listen, identify, and accompany.
Public Policy
Translating insight into governance, regulation, and resource allocation.
Prevention & Early Intervention
Shifting from crisis response to upstream investment.
Ecosystem Transformation
Redesigning the relationships that hold the school in place.
Morocco–U.S. Exchange
Learning across contexts without importing wholesale.
Community & Relational Change
Treating belonging as infrastructure, not amenity.
Executive Summary
This publication captures key reflections, strategic discussions, and recommendations emerging from the international roundtable — a document intended for educators, school leaders, policymakers, and institutional partners working at the intersection of education and wellbeing.
Participants & Contributors
This dialogue brought together educators, psychologists, researchers, and systems-change practitioners from Morocco and the United States.
Faycal El. Iraqi
Founder of ImpactForge, working on systems change and building bridges across the Atlantic between Morocco and the United States.
Dr. Abdelkarim Belhaj
Senior academic and practitioner in psychology, contributing to mental health education and institutional development.
Pr. Abdelaziz Snihji
Specialist in education systems and strategic planning, with experience in policy design and reform.
Dr. Oumaima Achor
Expert in governance and public policy, focusing on institutional systems and social sector reform.
John Kania
Globally recognized leader in social impact, advising on large-scale systems change and cross-sector collaboration.
Dr. Evangeline Harris
Academic and practitioner contributing an international perspective on mental health and education systems.
Dr. Ivonne Borrero
Leads school-based psychological services within a major U.S. urban school system, integrating mental health and education.
Rkia Salnave
Practitioner with Moroccan school system background, bringing a cross-cultural perspective on student wellbeing.
Fatima El Maghnaoui
Women's rights activist and President of the Najda Center for Women Victims of Violence in Rabat.
Reflections from the Roundtable
Selected reflections on systems change, collaboration, and the future of student wellbeing.
We cannot diagnose our way out of a systemic problem. Student wellbeing is the shape a healthy ecosystem takes — not a service we deliver to it.On Systems ChangeReflection from the Morocco–U.S. Roundtable
What Morocco and the United States share is not a model to copy, but a question worth asking together: who is responsible for a child's belonging?On Cross-Border CollaborationReflection from the Morocco–U.S. Roundtable
School psychology is most powerful when it stops being a service and becomes a design principle for the whole institution.On School PsychologyReflection from the Morocco–U.S. Roundtable
The most important reform may be relational, not technical: rebuilding the trust between schools, families, and the institutions meant to serve them.On Relational ApproachesReflection from the Morocco–U.S. Roundtable
Future Initiatives
The roundtable was not an endpoint but an opening. The work continues through a deliberate program of convenings, research, and partnerships across Morocco and the United States.
The Next Roundtable
A continuing series of Morocco–U.S. dialogues on education, mental health, and ecosystem leadership — bringing together new voices each cycle.
Learn more →From Insight to Governance
Translating the roundtable's findings into actionable policy conversations with Moroccan and American institutions and partners.
Learn more →Building the Evidence Base
Cross-border research collaborations on school psychology, prevention, and systemic transformation in education.
Learn more →Continue the Dialogue
ImpactForge Consulting continues to advance cross-sector and cross-border conversations around education, mental health, and systemic transformation. We invite institutions, researchers, and practitioners to join us.