“After October 7, Teva understood that trauma would be with us for a long time to come,” says Yarden Abarbanel, program lead at “Support the Soul,” Teva Pharmaceutical’s philanthropic program for therapists that was established in late 2023. Recognizing the urgent need to deal with Israel’s national trauma, the company initiated the program in order to train therapists in trauma therapy and provide support for them in their work.
The Swords of Iron War has left a lasting impact of national trauma on Israelis. According to a report issued by Support the Soul, 45% of Israeli citizens were directly involved in the war in some way, while 77% of respondents reported experiencing emotional difficulties during the war. The most common feelings among Israelis as a result of the war were increased stress or tension, fear or anxiety, and concern for personal safety.
The Support the Soul program, used by more than 20 NGOs throughout Israel, comprises four main components: training and supervision, resilience, innovation, and awareness.
“Professional training,” explains Abarbanel, “gives therapists the clinical knowledge and training they need in order to give better trauma care treatment.” The program supplies therapists with specific tools for trauma, such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and provides supervision to therapists, enabling them to provide better treatment to their trauma patients.
Resilience – the second component – provides tools to the therapists themselves to build their own resilience in their treatment of traumatic events and prevent them from becoming victims of secondary trauma.
Abarbanel explains that supervision is also an important component of resilience. “When you sit with a group of therapists, you’re not only learning professionally, but you also have a place to share your feelings,” she points out. “This is one part of it. Additionally, therapists are seeking different types of workshops. They could be about breathing and mindfulness – there are many activities that are trauma-aware or trauma-informed. There’s a double benefit in these activities. We are not only providing the therapist with the resilience that they need, but also they will take those tools and combine them in their own work.”
The third pillar of Support the Soul, says Abarbanel, is innovation. “We understand that there is a huge gap between the need for therapy and its availability. The way to narrow this gap is to introduce technology.” Technological advancements can be innovative research methods that can make trauma treatment more efficient, as well as specific devices used to treat trauma.
Abarbanel describes two types of technological projects that Save the Soul is supporting. The first, designed for PTSD patients who are suffering from sleep disorders, is the Nyx headset, which uses sophisticated algorithms and AI to personalize a program that diagnoses sleep disturbances and improves sleep. “If you use this medical device that will improve your sleep, we think that it will cause a reduction of the symptoms of PTSD. We are supporting the research with the Defense Ministry, which is important because if we’re doing things in collaboration with other organizations, there is a higher potential for implementation.” The headset is currently available in hospitals for treatment.
A second technology used in treating trauma and stress is that of immersive rooms, which utilize virtual reality spaces to provide a contained and supportive environment for therapeutic activities for groups of affected children.
The final component of the program is increasing awareness of the importance of caregivers and therapists during this critical period. “We want to direct attention to therapists, social workers, and psychologists,” says Abarbanel, “so that people will know how important they are in preserving the national resilience of the State of Israel.”
Abarbanel cites an impressive litany of statistics that illustrate the impact that Support the Soul has made since its inception. The program has trained close to 2,000 therapists and has provided resilience tools to 9,000 participants, including therapists and other individuals in the field. It has supported two mental health acceleration programs, backed two technologies directly, and supported two resilience centers in southern Israel.
Apart from the numbers, she says, Support the Soul is unique because it focuses on therapists. “Today, in the field of trauma, most philanthropy is directed to infrastructure, to the patients, and to the treatments. I think that the focus of the therapist is important because we see it as an infrastructure for the future.” Abarbanel adds that Support the Soul tailors its programs to the specific needs of each organization with which it works. “Every organization needs something different,” she explains. “The needs of the population in the North are different from those in the South.”
Abarbanel explains how the program has developed over the past two years. “In the beginning, everyone came and volunteered to work. The primary need was professional training. We needed to give them tools to treat trauma. Next, it was about specific methods. We needed to find the best tools for therapists to use, since they need to provide specific tools to individual patients. Then, we dealt with resilience. Therapists are getting too much information and too many cases. They are very hard to process, and now they need retreats and workshops.”
In addition to assisting therapists, Save the Soul is also supporting the organizations where therapists work to enable them to remain. Many of the therapists, she explains, are tempted to return to more routine cases at their private clinics. It is for that reason that Save the Soul is providing organizations with the necessary tools to ensure that therapists remain with them, rather than moving on.
Save the Soul has worked with some of Israel’s foremost trauma treatment organizations, including the Israeli Trauma Coalition, Natal, Enosh, the Eden Association, which specializes in treating post-trauma among girls and women in the Gaza Envelope and the Negev, the Tamar Center, which works with the Bedouin community, the Mashabim Association, which provides trauma therapy and support to residents in the north, and the Resilience Acceleration Program for Technology in Sderot. Abarbanel also mentions two unique programs that treat trauma with water activities – HaGal Sheli (My Wave), which uses surfing to provide educational and therapeutic programs tailored for at-risk youth, trauma survivors, and individuals with disabilities, and Home by the Sea, which combine the power of the sea to support and strengthen populations with special needs, at risk, and those with trauma.
“Unfortunately, trauma in Israel is here to stay,” concludes Abarbanel. “Our mission is to promote trauma care and stay relevant to the changing needs in the field.” One example of remaining relevant in trauma care, she explains, is dealing with the lives of returning IDF reservists, many of whom have served multiple stints in intensive combat situations.
“Do they find meaning in their lives? How are they treating their partners, and how do we keep those families together? This is another tool that you need to give to therapists. Our work is always about being relevant to current needs.
“During the war, Israel became a live lab for long-term national trauma. There is an opportunity for Israel to share this knowledge, and we can take this opportunity to turn this challenge into an opportunity and to share our knowledge, learning, and lessons learned with the world.”
This article was written in cooperation with Support the Soul.