When the Oct. 7 attacks triggered trauma far and wide, many were left without tools to cope. The Planetherapy NGO was born from this understanding, and it delivered 4,000 sessions from more than 300 qualified therapists. What began as a deeply human reaction to Oct. 7 has grown into a global emotional support platform.
A shared path toward healing
Tal Nir’s journey to co-founding Planetherapy began long before Oct. 7.
“Everything I did in my life prepared me for this moment,” she said. “I worked with thousands of doctors, and I studied NLP [neuro-linguistic programming] guided imagination. During COVID, we left Israel. I told my husband that the one thing the world needs is emotional support, rehabilitation.”
Her journey connected her to Keith Siegel, whose abduction on Oct. 7 shook her, and motivated her to try to help.
“For more than a decade, I worked closely with Keith Siegel in Eli Lilly and Company, where our professional paths intersected repeatedly,” she told the Magazine.
Their shared work culminated in their receiving the APEX Award in 2016, an experience that brought them, along with colleagues and friends, to South Africa for several transformative days. Those moments cemented not only professional respect but also a deep personal bond.
Nir described Siegel as quiet but powerful, someone whose commitment to mental health is felt rather than declared. Their long-standing connection meant that when trauma struck the collective Israeli and Jewish consciousness, Nir understood immediately how deeply this field resonated and how she needed to push forward to make a difference.
At that stage, Ilana O’Malley approached Nir and asked whether she would like to join her in creating a volunteer-based platform to provide emotional support for Israelis. The timing felt aligned. Nir had just exited a start-up that closed abruptly, leaving her without income but with clarity.
“Listen, I am available now. Let’s try, for it sounds amazing. Now we need to support our tribe,’” Nir had said to O’Malley. “So we just started. I think that many things prepared me for this moment,” she explained.
How Planetherapy works: Removing barriers to care
Planetherapy was designed with one core principle: making healing easier to access.
Trauma can silence people. Shame, stigma, bureaucracy, fear of judgment, and logistical obstacles are common reasons that prevent many people from seeking help. Planetherapy removes those barriers through a streamlined, user-centered model.
Through the website-based platform, individuals can choose:
■ their preferred language (more than 22 are available)
■ the gender of the therapist
■ from 17 types of emotional support
■ an emotional support therapist located anywhere in the world, enabling sessions across time zones
The platform has served Israeli citizens regardless of ethnicity, as well as Jewish individuals worldwide, since Oct. 7.
The focus, as per the co-founders, is on “the circles around the trauma,” which can include anyone affected by the person’s war trauma experience.
Nevertheless, Planetherapy does not position itself as a replacement for medical care. It does not provide medication, and while it is staffed by trained, certified, and vetted professionals, it does not replace the opinion of local health providers. Instead, it offers professional emotional support, practical therapeutic tools, and referrals to emergency resources when needed. Weekly and monthly supervision ensures quality and ethical care.
The first six sessions are offered free of charge. After that, sessions are available at a subsidized rate of €25. This model allows people to begin healing without financial pressure.
Keith Siegel: Breaking the silence around mental health
Siegel’s connection to Planetherapy is deeply personal, but his message is universal.
Having worked for years in mental health-adjacent fields as a trained occupational therapist, Siegel understands the persistent stigma associated with emotional care.
“I became aware and conscious and learned a lot about mental health and what might have been a bias or stereotype, and learned and understood that there is nothing to be ashamed of regarding mental health,” he said.
Siegel emphasized a truth many overlook: Mental health and physical health are intertwined.
“Physical illness can trigger emotional distress,” he said, and emotional trauma can manifest physically. “Treating one without the other leaves people incomplete.”
His advocacy centers on encouragement, urging individuals to reach out, whether to a family doctor, therapist, community leader, or trusted confidant.
“Seeking help is not weakness; it is a responsibility to oneself and to those who depend on you,” he said.
Siegel highlighted something commonly overlooked: Untreated mental health struggles do not exist in isolation.
“It does not just affect you,” he said. “It affects everyone you interact with, especially family and friends. I know [that] when I was released [from Hamas captivity], what was really present in my consciousness was how I present myself to my family and my friends and wanting them to realize and to experience me as being OK. It is hard to see someone close to you suffer due to you. So it’s not just hard for the person that is suffering but for their surroundings.”
To Siegel, Planetherapy represents a rare and powerful opportunity: professional mental-health support offered free of charge, without judgment, and without stigma.
“In moments of crisis, that accessibility can be life-changing,” he said.
Ilana O’Malley: From personal loss to global vision
O’Malley has spent more than two decades providing therapy to high-profile individuals from around the world. Her healing methods include working in reflexology, reiki, holistic therapy, addiction recovery, and life coaching. But nothing prepared her for Oct. 7.
“On Oct. 7, my phone was flooded with calls for help,” she related.
One call shattered everything: The boyfriend of her closest friend’s daughter, Yohai Ben Zecharia, had been brutally murdered at the Supernova music festival. For days, his fate was unknown. He was eventually identified only through DNA testing.
O’Malley found herself supporting not just one grieving young woman but an expanding circle of devastation.
“Avishag [Yohai’s girlfriend] didn’t get any support because she’s a girlfriend. This is when it hit me, because you need to treat circles of the affected, starting with family members and friends, but [treatment] can be extended to any Jewish person, as it affects all of us. We are one heart,” she said.
She had never built a digital platform. She had barely worked with computers. But she understood people and the inner workings of therapy. She began reaching out to colleagues across the world, Jews and non-Jews alike, inviting them into a shared mission of rehabilitation.
This was the beginning of Planetherapy, and she did this free of charge for two years. This has become O’Malley’s full-time professional focus.
She emphasized that war-related trauma is not uniform. “Some people shut down. Others grow hypervigilant.
Children exhibit aggression. Adults struggle with sleep, trust, and safety. Jewish communities abroad face threats, intimidation, and even hostility from professionals meant to help them.
“Planetherapy exists precisely for those moments. When people do not know where to turn or whom to trust, we become the platform,” she said.
Trauma also affects communities differently. Jews and Israelis in Spain, for instance, undergo routine harassment due to their affiliation with Israel.
“I am in phone groups with Israelis in Barcelona and Madrid, and the stories are of a daily basis of threats,” she said.
The harassment often bleeds into the world of therapy as well. “Many times, a Jew or an Israeli goes to a specialist in Madrid, and he [the specialist] asks the patient, ‘What do you think of the genocide? So where are you from?’ The patient feels threatened, afraid, and needs to withhold crucial information. Who do I turn to? In England, one patient went to a psychologist, and the psychologist asked back, ‘So what do you think of the genocide?’”
However, despite the atmosphere, Jews and Israelis do live comfortable lives in Spain. Support also comes from unusual places, such as from the king of Spain, Felipe VI, whom O’Malley has met personally and has been in contact with through emails.
In the case of the recent Bondi Beach attack in Sydney, Planetherapy sprang into action almost immediately.
“We have a group of nine therapists in Australia; three of our team are there, working on it right now. They
do the work through the local communities,” she said.
While she emphasized that the mental health services in Australia are quite good, “Planetherapy provides services also for people who weren’t at the attack itself, are in Australia, and are undergoing the antisemitism or harassment and need someone to turn to.”
Looking forward: Healing without borders
Planetherapy is looking to increase its partnerships and is currently pushing to expand into the United States market so both Israelis and American Jews can access its free service.
Planetherapy’s current collaborations include Taglit-Birthright, ZAKA Unit 360, Jewish Agency partners, and international organizations.
For Planetherapy, what began as pain has become purpose. And what continues to grow is hope, especially allowing all who need someone to turn to, to be able to, regardless of financial ability and location.
So, are you or a loved one of someone suffering from trauma? Are you feeling anxious from the war trauma, and do you need someone to turn to? The path to the resource begins at Planetherapyglobal.
<strong>Surviving the mind: Keith Siegel discusses strategies for traumatic experience</strong><em><br></em>
Siegel, who spent 484 days as a Hamas hostage in Gaza, shared with the Magazine his own perspective on the importance of mental health, both during his time in captivity and afterward.
“I was in a situation where I needed both mental and physical resources to cope with my situation. I tried to be very mindful about my challenges and tools to use to help me cope in the situation I was in,” he said.
One of the most powerful tools Siegel relied on was emotional connection. Even in isolation, his family and friends remained central to his inner world.
“Some of the tools that helped me mentally were my connection to my family and my friends,” he said. “They were very present in my mindset and thoughts.”
The following were tools that Siegel used to help him through his experience:
• Positive imagination. Unable to communicate physically, Siegel maintained an imagined connection that became a source of strength.
“It was very stressful for me mentally, thinking about the suffering of my family,” he said, “and the fact that they did not know if I was alive, or in what condition I was in. So I imagined being able to communicate with them, to alleviate the suffering.”
• Faith. “My Jewish faith became stronger,” Siegel said. Elements of the Jewish tradition gave him strength mentally and spiritually.
• Mindfulness, anchoring himself in the present moment rather than being overwhelmed by fear.
“Being present as much as possible. Being focused on the present, where I was.”
• Gratitude. This was especially important in maintaining mental resolve.
“I was grateful that I was alive, in one piece,” Siegel said, “grateful that I had a loving family doing everything they could to help me.”
• Glass-half-full outlook. Rather than focusing solely on loss, he consciously looked for what remained. “I saw the good. I appreciated what I had, and that strengthened me mentally.”
• Historical perspective, putting oneself in a broader context.
“I thought about Jewish history – the Holocaust, the destruction of the Temple, wars and terrorist attacks,” he said. “I felt very fortunate and grateful to be able to survive.”
After his release, Siegel faced a new and painful reality. He had believed that his release meant all hostages would be freed after 484 days in captivity. Instead, he learned that many remained in Gaza, including four close friends, including two lifelong friends from his kibbutz, Kfar Aza, and two others he met during captivity.
Determined to act, he became proactive, an approach he used in light of his own experience.
“I did a lot of things, traveling abroad, meeting with the US administration, US President Donald Trump, [US Special Envoy to the Middle East] Steve Witkoff, and other high-ranking officials,” he said.
“The situation was very hard for me, and I committed myself to doing everything to change their [the hostages’] reality and to support their families.”