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Psychological Support Program

The Netzah Yehuda Organization’s Psychological Support Program

This program is divided into three areas, psychotherapy treatment, support via social workers and rabbinical mentors.  Many Haredi soldiers have experienced deep psychological scarring due to rejection from their families and by having been treated as failures by their society for not having dedicated themselves to a life of learning in yeshiva.  These preexisting psychological issues created a unique challenge for these brave soldiers when they were faced with the horrors of October 7 and the ensuing war.  The IDF has no experience treating these psychological complexities and turned to the Netzah Yehuda Organization to leverage our existing program to develop an infrastructure to treat Haredi soldiers experiencing psychological difficulty and post trauma.

Challenges

  1. Many Haredi soldiers are classified as lone soldiers because they have been estranged from their home due to their IDF services. This means that they have no loving family support to help them face the trauma they have experienced.
  2. Many Haredi soldiers receiving leave from Gaza, when turning on their phones, while soldiers around them received a myriad of messages from family and friends, would have no messages except from Netzah Yehuda staff. This increases the feelings of loneliness and abandonment exponentially.
  3. In a number of cases, lone Haredi soldiers had NCO’s that are lone Haredi soldiers and officers that are lone Haredi soldiers. The means that the chain of command that is providing support for the soldier is also experiencing extreme psychological difficulties beyond those resulting from the war.
  4. Many new soldiers recruited during the war enlisted without support from their families and friends facing the psychological challenges of enlistment and mental preparation for going to war without any support structure.
  5. Many Haredi soldiers come from a low socio-economic environment which has created deep psychological issues.
  6. A large number of Haredi soldiers have experienced sexual abuse leading to many psychological issues.

The need to provide treatment that could meet the above issues was urgent and had to be implement while we were learning the unique needs of Haredi soldiers in the war drawing from our rich experience of providing treatment to Haredi soldiers over the years.

The IDF recognised the importance of partnering with the Netzah Yehuda Organization as a result of our unique understanding of the Haredi community and the success of our existing programs.  They proved a wonderful partner relying on our expert team and partnering with us.

Results

  • Psychotherapists
  • A structure to supply treatment to soldiers immediately was established with the IDF.
  • Netzah Psychotherapists were available 7 days a week 24 hours a day and would jump immediately on being called.
  • Over 25 Haredi soldiers received ongoing treatment.
  • Netzah psychotherapists became the only nonmilitary parental support for many soldiers giving them treatment and caring.
  • For many soldiers Netzah psychotherapists became the first number they called as soon as they came out of Gaza. Even for a short break.
  • Social Workers
  • Over 300 Haredi soldiers received treatment. Some in preparation for enlistment, some during their service and their deployment in Gaza, Judea & Samaria or on the Lebanese border and some upon completing their service and readjusting to civilian life.
  • Haredi soldiers received according to need:
    • Psychotherapeutic Treatment
    • Help in navigating the IDF and working with the chain of command
    • Assistance to receive their rights for support from national insurance and other official bodies
    • Financial support
    • Support to rebuild their relationships with their families
    • Personal support and mentorship
  • Rabbinical Mentors
  • Visit over 40 IDF bases every day
  • Provide emotional support, solve problems, build moral
  • Run on base shabbat programs
  • Support over 2,800 conscript soldiers and over 21,000 reservists

The program is designed to support Haredi soldiers over a number of years, working with them hand-in-hand, to help them achieve success both in the IDF and to develop a successful life after completion of their service.

Personal Stories

  • Corporal “Aleph”

One soldier serving in the Haredi Tomer Company in the Givati Brigade in Gaza experienced extreme psychological trauma.  He received treatment through Netzah’s psychotherapist and managed to overcome his difficulties remaining in the front along with his brothers-in-arms.  Whenever he came out of Gaza, the first person he would call was Netzah’s psychotherapist.  He told her that whenever he and his unit came out of the thick of battle for a 24 hour respite or some leave, she was the only person who had left him messages asking how he is doing and just providing basic emotional care. He said that those messages were like a wall of steel supporting him.

  • One Haredi officer was coordinating with our psychotherapist who was treating one of his soldiers. During a conversation, he asked her if he could talk to her about himself for a bit.  Of course she agreed.  He said that he had an image in his head that was haunting him, affecting his sleep and emotions.  He had been sent into one of the hospitals in Gaza to look for bodies of kidnaped Israelis in the fridges.  He opened the door of one fridge only to discover the head of an Israel soldier.  He was experiencing extreme trauma and wasn’t dealing with it well.  He said that he had no one to talk to as he was the commanding officer and had to provide the emotional support and guidance to his soldier that he himself needed.  Our psychologist helped him to face his trauma and overcome it.

In the Netzah Yehuda Organization, the IDF found a reliable and effective partner for this critical project which strengthened our already good relationship.  The psychological complexities of many Haredi soldiers, exacerbated by the October 7 massacre and the subsequent war in Gaza, requires the immediate development of an effective holistic infrastructure for treatment to ensure the successful integration of Haredi youth into the IDF during an extreme period.  This includes our program to supply Lone Soldiers Housing.  The extreme events of October 7 created a new reality which demanded quick effective solutions.  Your generous support enabled us to work rapidly with the IDF and to supply urgently needed treatment to hundreds of Haredi soldiers having a significant impact and saving lives.

Thank you for your partnership with the Netzah Yehuda Organization and for embracing our brave soldiers when they needed it most.