Arab Therapy signs MOU with King Abdulaziz University on mental health
Arab Therapy Medical Care has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, formalising a partnership to integrate digital mental health services into one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent academic institutions. The agreement was executed with the university's King Fahd Medical Research Center and covers joint research, clinical supervision, on-campus awareness initiatives, and a dedicated student ambassador programme.
The MOU was signed by Dr Tariq Asim Rushdi Dalbah, chief executive and co-founder of Arab Therapy, and by Prof. Amin bin Youssef Mohammed Al-Nu'man, the university's Vice President for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, acting on behalf of the institution's president.
Scope of the agreement
Under the terms of the MOU, the two parties will co-produce scientific studies on mental health, with the King Fahd Medical Research Center providing research infrastructure. Arab Therapy's platform will be made available to students and university staff for confidential, professionally supervised digital therapy sessions. The partnership also includes workshops covering stress management, burnout prevention, and mindfulness, as well as jointly produced content distributed through campus and digital channels.
A Mental Health Ambassador Unit will be established as a student club to champion psychological wellbeing on campus. A joint working team will oversee delivery across all activity streams.
Dr Dalbah said the agreement represents "a pivotal moment" in the company's mission to make professional psychological support accessible across the Arab world, adding that embedding the platform within a major university means "building an entirely new generation of mental health professionals trained to internationally accredited standards."
Market and regulatory context
Arab Therapy was founded in Berlin before relocating its headquarters to Riyadh. Its therapists operate under the supervision of specialists from the University of Hamburg, and the platform is available in Arabic, English, and German. The company also operates in Amman, Cairo, and Berlin, and offers a peer-experience sharing application called Siraj alongside its main web and mobile products.
The deal sits squarely within Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 agenda, which targets significant expansion of healthcare services and human capital development. Mental health has historically been under-resourced in the Gulf region, and a number of government-linked initiatives are now attempting to close the gap between prevalence and treatment rates. Academic partnerships of this kind are one mechanism through which digital platforms can build clinical credibility and a locally trained workforce, two requirements that are increasingly shaping procurement decisions by both public and private healthcare buyers in the Kingdom.
The wider digital mental health sector has seen sustained investor interest globally, with several platforms pursuing institutional contracts with universities and employers as a more predictable revenue channel than direct-to-consumer subscription models. Arab Therapy's dual focus on research output and service delivery gives the partnership a structure that could support future peer-reviewed publications, potentially strengthening the company's regulatory and commercial standing in the region.