Israel at war

Background

On October 7th, hundreds of Israeli children witnessed the unimaginable. ELI mobilized its resources in one day to provide complex trauma relief and crisis intervention for more than 1,300 adults and 700 children from the Gaza envelope who were relocated to hotels in the Dead Sea region and the Greater Jerusalem area. 96 of the children had lost one parent, and 20 lost both. Some watched their parents perish in the most barbaric fashion.

The first stage of our intervention focused on reducing anxiety and trying to restore the basic abilities to function (speaking, eating, drinking and sleeping) for people who were uprooted from the safety and security of their homes, experiencing severe trauma, and whose future is uncertain.

Their stories were overwhelming on every level; for example, the two-year-old boy who refused to take off his shoes for weeks (even for bed and bathtime), in case he needed to run. And then there was the 8-year-old girl whom we had to talk out of hiding in the closet so that she could go to the funerals of both her parents.

Second Stage

Subsequent to our initial intervention of lessening the anxiety levels, we transitioned to a second stage of long-term care, providing therapeutic and crisis intervention to children and their families from the most severe with whom we met. We’ve identified 200 such cases. In this next stage of therapy, we are meeting with them regularly to continue to work on reducing their level of anxiety in addition to enhancing their impaired functional capacity until we can restore it to a reasonable norm. At least 20 of the girls/ young women were sexually abused but likely more since rape and sexual abuse were rampant.

Emerging Needs

The needs keep increasing; see for example this article.
Many evacuees are still living in one room in the hotels, often without income, and the children may not be attending school regularly. The children often suffer as a result of living in these “pressure cookers,” as evidenced by 14-year-old Tali who has been walking around for months and her parents are drunk in their room.

As the reservists return home, their trauma, which is still partially hidden, is greatly affecting the children who are getting used to having their parents home again (mostly fathers), and they are seeing displays of rage or other emotions and behaviors that they’re not used to and it is frightening to them. Also, as the hostages return and as those who were injured get released from the hospital, their relatives and loved ones need support in helping their family members reabsorb into the family and return to their normative functioning as best as possible. Also, there are children who are self-harming at an increased rate as their way of coping with the stress.

The trauma in the country is palpable. Due to long-term relationships ELI has with the IDF and the schools, we are getting requests from soldiers and educators for trauma relief and we would like to be able to help them.

Results

We have the following data points of our work thus far with the survivors:

– 98%/ 90%* of our clients were diligent about attending their therapy sessions
– 96%/ 81%* succeeded in achieving the daily operational tasks we set for and with them
– In 82%/74%* of the clients we saw an improvement in their social skills, and in 98%/90%* we have assessed that they’ve experienced relief in their acute symptoms.

*The first number represents children under 18 and the second number represents adults 18+

How You Can Help

A donation of $5,000 covers 1 year of therapy for one child and his/ her family

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING MORE THAN ONE CHILD!

A donation of $2,500 covers short term therapeutic intervention/ problem resolution for 20 clients

A donation of $1,250 will allow us to respond quickly to about 500 distress calls

Any level of donation is appreciated and monthly donations are accepted as well

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF ELI is a 501(c)(3) charity (EIN 52-2171745)

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