In Israel, an 11-year-old girl is awoken by sirens. Since Oct. 7, she’s cried hysterically at the sound—and still more concerning symptoms have surfaced as she tries to navigate, as a child, her world at war.

This is just one of many stories of a child treated at Enosh’s rapidly deployed crisis mental health centers. The centers focus on treating youth and young adults impacted by the war, with best-in-class treatments designed to guide young people through unthinkable strain.

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, mental health support in Israel was—and continues to be—critical. CJP’s Israel Emergency Fund recently granted $300,000 to Enosh, the country’s longtime leading and largest core mental health organization. The funds will support Enosh as it launches and runs a Krayiot (Haifa/North) Unit for two years, bringing even more essential therapy to kids and young adults ranging from 10 to 25, who are in particular need of emotional support in light of the traumas of war.

The 11-year-old quickly began to improve thanks to Enosh’s care.

“She started receiving treatment using Flash, a technique for processing traumatic memories, where [she] imagines the sirens and thus processes the trauma. Already, after five sessions of treatment, there are positive results, the reactions began to calm down and the girl now teaches her family how to calm down during sirens using the techniques she learned. In addition to dealing with her own trauma, she was also given a sense of control and power to teach others,” says Dr. Hilla Hadas, Enosh’s executive director.

In addition to her Enosh leadership, Hadas is a member of the Prime Minister’s Roundtable—a small group of cross-sector leaders who regularly meet to advise policy on Israel’s greatest challenges. She describes the mental health crisis in Israel as marked by “trauma, grief and loss.” The Enosh Crisis Center in the Krayiot, funded by CJP’s grant, is one of seven in a series strategically planned across geographies where children and young adults have been acutely impacted by the war, such as a 22-year-old newly married woman who became distressed when her husband was unexpectedly called up for reserve duty in Gaza at the outbreak of the war.

“At the time, her family was staying in the Gaza envelope. Many of her family members were called up for reserve duty, including her father, who was injured. She has trouble falling asleep with intrusive thoughts, rapid breathing and a fast heartbeat,” Hadas recalls.

“At the intake stage, we attempted to create a coherent narrative of her experience, including validation and normalization of the concrete concern for her husband’s safety. The intervention focused on her relationships with her family members and her husband, gaining strategies for self-regulation and managing stressful situations, and connecting to the different emotions that arise in her when she’s with her husband and when he’s away.”

Although patients prefer to remain anonymous, they’re effusive in their gratitude.

“I think the most important thing [my therapist] taught me is not to hate myself and not to blame myself. Not to take responsibility for everything,” writes one patient. “I know that, even as I’m going on a journey, alone … When I face difficulties, I can think of all the things we’ve discussed and lean on them.”

CJP’s Israel Emergency Fund grant to Enosh and over $9 million total investment in mental health and trauma support projects aims to answer the call to action for a country undergoing immense psychological stress, given events of the last 10 months.

“We’re grateful for CJP’s trust in Enosh as a leading professional organization in the field of mental health in Israel that has the expertise and capacity to provide the much-needed assistance during this period, especially to this vulnerable age group of adolescents and young adults,” Hadas says.

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