The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani hosted an important seminar titled "Building Effective Support Systems on College Campuses" on May 7, 2025. The event, designed and run by the C.A.R.E.S. team,  featured five distinguished panel speakers, including Dr. Lynn Rose, Dr. Loren O'Connor, Dr. Thierry Kolpin, Dr. Koyar Sherko, and Ms. Panagiotta Magga, all experts in various aspects of disability services and mental health support in academic settings. 

Topics covered ranged from campus accommodation services to linguistic shifts in disabilities research, with special attention to the state of disability and mental health services in KRG universities. The seminar, moderated by Ms. Shabang Sardar, included an open Q&A session and concluded with closing remarks from Dr. Hanaw Hassan, Dean of the College of Education at Sulaimani University, highlighting the C.A.R.E.S team's ongoing efforts to improve support systems for students across college campuses. C.A.R.E.S, Crisis Assistance Response, Evaluation, and Support committee is the first mental health and academic support system for students at AUIS.  

It is run by dedicated faculty and staff:  Dr. Lynn Rose, Ms. Panagiotta Magga,  Ms. Shabang Sardar,  Ms. Wided Ben Tekaya,  Mr. Skho Shwan,  Ms. Zimkitha Mpatheni (co-chair),  and Ms. Goshan Karadaghi (co-chair).   For any future collaboration or information, you can contact the CARES team: [email protected]