Following the daily food distribution this team has been taking care of since the beginning of the war, yesterday they reached a new high 🔥

The entire Bayit Cham team packed and distributed 1,000 trays of hot food, 100 boxes of fruit and vegetables, and 70 dry food baskets to Bayit Cham rehab clients and their family members in Ashdod.

Rehabilitation staff from other local organizations joined to help: Yedid Nefesh, the Ministry of Welfare’s Addictions Unit, Clalit’s Ashdod mental health clinic staff, the “LeYad HaYam” hostel staff, the “Nechalim” hostel staff, the staff of Ashdod’s municipal welfare department, and the “Mifrasim” sheltered workshop staff. 👏👏👏

Dr. Assia Leibson, a psychiatrist at Bayit Cham’s Ashdod clinic and Dr. Angela Dernikov, director of Clalit’s Ashdod mental health clinic also joined to help pack the baskets.

What unity! What teamwork!

All the food was donated by ‘Leket Israel’ (we have no words to thank them 🙏😇).

Thank you to all the helpers – to Avraham Avrutsky, the project’s director, and to our entire wonderful staff who took it upon themselves to lead this exciting and important initiative, while at the same time carrying on with their amazing rehab work 🙌❤️

Am Yisrael Chai – Israel Lives! 🇮🇱 Together we will win

These days we started to operate a new therapeutic service, important and so relevant to this difficult period – Resilience Centers.

Alongside the war and the horrors of October 7^th, life goes on… but there are many among us who carry with them the distressing sights and fears. This is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, but in order to prevent the reaction from becoming entrenched in the psyche as post-traumatic stress disorder for life (a severe disorder that impairs daily functioning in many aspects), it is incumbent on each and every one of us to seek treatment 🙏 The shame is behind us and everyone understands that emotional resilience is essential and fundamental to functioning and living.

Our Resilience Centers, in collaboration with the Israel Trauma Coalition and the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi), are culturally sensitive to the ultra-Orthodox and national-religious sectors, operate nationwide and are intended for children aged 7 and above, as well as adults.

The centers are staffed by trauma experts who provide therapy and guidance to anyone presenting symptoms of anxiety and mental distress due to the security situation. Each person receives 12 free therapy sessions.

The process begins by dialing *9518. Our responders assess initial needs and refer each caller to a trauma-trained therapist in his/her geographic area according to individual need.

In addition to therapy, the centers provide parental guidance, group and individual guidance, workshops for educational staff, and more.

Please contact us so that you can optimally return to everyday routine. Don’t be left alone in a state of distress. Dial *9518‼️ Together we will win❤️

Yes, yes… the very same one who volunteers for the police, puts on a bullet-proof vest and goes out at night to watch over us on the streets of Tel Aviv. Besides for that, she also volunteers at “Latet” and distributes food baskets to elderly Holocaust survivors. This week she also hopped over to donate blood 😉 All this in addition to her work at Bayit Cham for the past 9 or so years as a vocational coach supporting people with mental health challenges (38 people!!), whom she leads through the amazing processes of rehabilitation and meaningful integration at work ❤️

Yet with all her professional experience, she has yet to experience a joint journey like the one she is going through with Yaakov. She began coaching Yaakov only 3 months ago, with the aim of finding him another job because he and his wife are expecting a baby (and it is a high-risk pregnancy) 😍.

Yaakov, 44 years old, an intelligent and charming man, has had a difficult and complex life from age 0 (an understatement). We won’t go into detail here, but his background includes neglect and abuse, and in his adulthood, he was even taken prisoner in Chechnya, a traumatic experience in itself.

Needless to say, Yaakov does not trust anyone in the world and since the terrible October 7^th massacre, he does not leave his house. All the anxiety and post-traumatic symptoms came flooding back 😞

Beyond Yaakov and his wife’s great emotional and functional struggles, they were in tremendous stress due to their difficult financial state with no possibility of going out to work. The fridge is empty, the heart is broken and the stomach is empty. What can one do?

Hila, with her huge heart and lots of resourcefulness, turned to Rotem Sol, the person in charge at Latet, who made sure that they received food baskets regularly. Until it was arranged, Rotem contacted people on her neighborhood WhatsApp chat and they agreed to cook hot meals for Yaakov and his wife. They also packed up and delivered the leftover delicious food from their children’s afternoon programs (lots of it!). Yaakov and his wife received boxes full of delicacies for about two whole weeks!

It is impossible to describe how Yaakov was moved by the care and concern of Hila, Rotem and all the good people who rallied for him. Yaakov says that no one ever cared for his basic needs and that this is the most significant thing anyone ever did for him. This may be a breakthrough in his relationship with all of humanity 🤞

This week when Hila came to visit Yaakov, they even went for a short walk outside and he told her “I trust you”. And most exciting of all – Yaakov himself started volunteering! He talks on the phone from home with elderly Holocaust survivors👏👏👏

Yaakov, you are a true hero! We wish you and your wife robust physical and mental health, are happy that the crisis has led to your growth. We believe that we will all get through this difficult time together, certainly thanks to the good people along the way like Hila, Rotem and others like them🏆

And Hila? A Woman of Valor!!

Who can find her? We have!!

Your huge heart is unmatched, your galvanizing others is heart-warming, and are awed by your drive and energy! We love and appreciate you for all you do. We’re so lucky to have you ❤️❤️❤️

The Bayit Cham staff in our Ashdod branch distributes 500 (!!) trays of cooked, hot food daily to our rehab service recipients, our clinic patients, and their families.

In order to strengthen emotional resilience, you first need existential security…

A huge thanks to Yoel, Avraham, Aharon and the whole amazing Ashdod team for all of this and for all your important, blessed activities🙏 You’re a winning team!!🙌

Even during these very difficult times, between running to the protected room when the siren goes off and taking care of the children at home, and amid all the heavy national and personal mourning and concern, including colleagues – rehabilitation professionals – who were murdered or are still missing, Bayit Cham’s vocational rehabilitation staff in Israel’s south continues to provide the most sensitive, supportive and enveloping support to all of their service recipients. Above and beyond the call of duty, our staff has also mobilized to help other rehabilitation teams in various sheltered housing facilities…

Today we were so moved when the Nechalim Hostel team operating in Ashdod thanked our very own dear Eva, a southern region Bayit Cham vocational coach, in a special way ❤️

“Thank you and for the heart you bring with you 🙏🏻”.

Eva, you are a true champion and we are proud of you and the entire staff for your inspiring conduct in times of emergency and during peace time ❤️🏆