Following the Iron Swords war, the
National Insurance issued a call at the beginning of the war to organizations
and associations in favor of emotional and mental therapeutic solutions as part
of the fighting and its ramifications
This
is due to our understanding that there are areas in which the public service
does not necessarily provide a solution and the National Insurance, within the
framework of its Funds Division, can assist the civilian sector with financial
support at this time.
After applications were submitted and
examined, the National Insurance approved funding for several projects
simultaneously, in amounts of between NIS 200,000 and NIS 2.8 million. As
mentioned above, the funds were transferred to the associations in favor of
providing mental and emotional care to war victims.
At the same time, of course, ongoing
assistance provided by the National Insurance - both economically and mentally
- to the wounded, bereaved families, hostages and their families continues.
Of the NIS 65 million transferred to the
various nonprofits by the National Insurance's Funds Division, NIS 7.5 million
were allocated for the treatment of survivors of the festivals – Nova and
Psyduck.
The National Insurance also provided
assistance to other organizations and projects, including:
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 1,533,852 to Natal - for the benefit
of emotional, clinical treatments aimed at reducing post-traumatic effect,
preventing exacerbation of an existing traumatic situation, immediate
emotional treatments for managing and mitigating the existing trauma as a
result of the atrocities.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 1,000,000 to the Izun
Village -
which focuses on providing professional therapeutic solutions to festival
survivors exposed to terrorism, some of whom were under the influence of
psychoactive substances at the time of the attack and therefore the
treatment will be adapted to these characteristics.
- Assistance
in the amount of NIS 2,200,000 to the Israeli Center for Addiction and
Mental Health - which
promotes prevention and treatment in the field of mental health and
addiction at the national level. The project will operate for the benefit
of festival survivors and their families, with an emphasis on treating
stress and trauma situations.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 322,220 to the
"Yadi-Or" association - which will
take care of the young survivors of the festival with an emphasis on
providing support to the body and soul through complementary medicine, and
with an emphasis on integrated holistic treatments for body and mind
balance.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 845,780 to Eran - which
operates a hotline and an online mental response, while at the same time
promoting the training of teams for responses adapted to trauma and
post-trauma situations, inter alia among young survivors of the festivals.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 665,929 to the
Organization for Hostile Actions Casualties - including the
opening of a dedicated emergency line, inter alia for festival survivors
and their families, emotional therapy and psychotherapy with guidance and
ongoing accompaniment until their integration into daily life functions.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 1,320,100 to
“Ella” a center for mental coping with loss - which will
provide mental support services, and focuses on the establishment of a
therapeutic unit for times of loss and crisis with an emphasis on trauma
treatment. In addition, training will be given to teams focused on trauma
and post-trauma treatment.
- Assistance in the amount of NIS 411,800 to the Israeli
Center for Psycho-Traumatic Treatment - which provides
comprehensive trauma prevention treatment among festival survivors,
individual and group intervention programs and training of trauma
treatment teams.
The assistance of the funds, passed from
the outset the approval of the National Insurance Council's Funds Committee and
the Minister of Labor when quality indices were set that we examined, among
other things, the need for the program and the added value, the target
population and the scope of activity, the organization's ability to support the
program, as well as feasibility and applicability.
Minister of Labor, Yoav Ben Tzur: "It
was clear to me from the first moment that signing the proposal brought to me
for financing projects and psychological assistance for populations affected by
the war situation is a necessary and beautiful thing that could not come soon
enough.
The civil society is today at the height of its glory and it is right to give
them financial assistance so that they can continue to provide a financial
solution in places where government projects are missing.
The ability to jointly manage government aid and at the same time help social
initiatives of the public and finance them is a necessary combination,
certainly at this time."
Acting Director General of the National Insurance, Yarona
Shalom: "The National Insurance has a great mission in treating
and assisting, both mentally and financially, the wounded, bereaved families
and families of hostages. At the same time, it is a right that we have the
ability, within the framework of the National Insurance Funds, to strengthen
civil society and finance social projects. We are in difficult and challenging
times and, now, strengthening social initiatives, funding them in parallel with
the activities of the National Insurance's staff and reaching out to the
wounded and families personally will complete, in a certain way, the overall
package of provided solutions to the state of war we are in."