Since Oct. 7, 2023, demand for mental health support in Israel has soared. With CJP’s support, organizations are delivering pivotal care. CJP has offered grants to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the leading global Jewish humanitarian organization; The Summit Institute, dedicated to rehabilitating people with mental health challenges; and Sahar, a suicide-prevention organization that provides text-based mental health support around the clock.
“Since Oct. 7, the scale and urgency of mental health needs in Israel have been unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Rabbi Marc Baker, CJP president and CEO. “CJP is committed to meeting this moment by supporting organizations that deliver care where and how it’s needed most — from immediate crisis intervention to long-term recovery. These grants reflect our belief that healing individuals, strengthening communities and restoring hope are essential to Israel’s resilience now and for the future.”
JDC treats 1 million vulnerable Israelis, especially the elderly, people with disabilities and families at risk. They report that one in three Israelis have experienced mental health symptoms and one in five report trouble with daily functioning after Oct. 7.
In response, JDC developed a National Mental Health & Wellbeing Initiative. It collects comprehensive data regarding Israelis’ mental health to facilitate precise government investment.
“It’s not enough to build infrastructure. It’s not enough to develop solutions. We also need to make sure that decision-makers have enough data and knowledge so they can make good decisions,” said Efrat Stern, who spearheads JDC’s programs.
JDC is creating a dashboard to harness data from different sources — “a barometer,” Stern said — to offer a mental health snapshot for the government to understand well-being needs and where to invest, and a database showing where to get help.
“The Initiative has already reached more than 100 locations around the country, with coordinators in each location, mapping the specific needs of residents, vetted by our Ministry of Health and Ministry of Welfare,” said Ran Rovner, JDC’s head of marketing.
Digital and community-based tools are a cornerstone of the efforts: The JDC works with municipalities and HMOs to make services accessible and culturally adapted. Initiatives include peer-to-peer support, psychoeducation and tailored digital platforms. Each solution is vetted to ensure safety and effectiveness, earning a “Seal of Quality” to distinguish credible resources from unverified ones.
The system has proved instrumental in rapid-response situations. During the recent conflict, when HMO hotlines were overwhelmed, JDC’s digital solutions were deployed within days, offering a blueprint going forward as the health care system strains to keep up.
“In Israel, we will never have enough professionals. Instead, we need to develop a range of solutions: peer-to-peer solutions, community solutions, psychoeducation. We’re investing in making a variety of solutions accessible,” added Stern.
For instance, the Dugri app provides anonymous, vetted, online support for people who crave connection. In one case, the wife of a deployed soldier turned to Dugri to commiserate about how hard it was to adjust once he returned home. She didn’t have the strength or time to attend therapy; Dugri met her where she was.
“It felt like nobody around me understood. I expected myself to be strong,” she recalled. “It turned out there were other wives who shared my feelings. Them sharing, too, gave me some peace. This environment of support, virtually hugging each other, the idea that together we’ll find strength and anchor each other — it helps.”
Meanwhile, The Summit Institute runs therapeutic communities, a vocational center, sports center and dedicated unit for survivors of sexual abuse. As a leading contractor of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Welfare, they also operate foster care programs in Jerusalem and southern Israel, steering young adults with mental challenges toward independent living.
CJP’s emergency grant to their Dror Program supports a pilot project treating soldiers with severe PTSD who can’t live at home. CJP’s grant created a refuge for these veterans in desperate need of safety and care.
“Soldiers weren’t functioning as husbands or fathers or workers. They had flashbacks. They couldn’t sleep. They had anger issues,” explained executive director Yoni Bogot. “With our expertise, we renovated a villa in Jerusalem where they eat, have group and individual therapy and live. We have a whole staff treating them and taking care of them.”
Looking ahead, Bogot emphasizes that the mental health impact of the war will continue to grow, and CJP’s long-term support is invaluable.
“We really don’t yet know the scope of the mental issues caused by this war, and I’m sure it’s much higher in scale than what we see right now,” Bogot said. “I think we’re only starting to see the effects on society.”
CJP also supports Sahar, a suicide-prevention organization that provides text-based mental health support. Funding from CJP allowed Sahar to shift to 24-hour service and train 35 new Arabic and Hebrew-speaking volunteers in the wake of Oct. 7.
“Our goal is to save lives,” said Sahar CEO Inbar Shenfeld. “We provide anonymous, immediate and approachable text-based support for all kinds of emotional distress and suicidal thoughts. We’re there at the very moment that people feel alone, in their darkest places.”
Sahar’s work is divided into three pillars: Reactive support entails immediate help via WhatsApp; proactive support monitors forums, social media and other online spaces for posts showing distress, allowing volunteers to reach out directly; and self-help resources include podcasts, articles and links to therapy or support services across Israel.
Volunteers undergo months-long recruitment and a rigorous four-month training program to master Sahar’s unique text-based support methods.
“We’ve developed a Sahar language,” Shenfeld explained. “We know how people feel by text alone, and we train our volunteers to help people in that moment.”
The need for Sahar’s services has grown sharply since Oct. 7.
“Before Oct. 7, Sahar gave assistance 11 hours a day. Since that day, we opened our chat and assistance 24/7, and we haven’t stopped since,” Shenfeld said.
In fact, the organization has seen a 70% increase in people seeking help, mostly youth 10 to 30, issuing over 1,000 life-saving intervention reports in 2024 alone.
“Think of these kids — they are going to be our next leaders,” Shenfeld said. “They had COVID six years ago, and then two years of war, missiles, alarms and parents not at home. We need to help them so they don’t fall into PTSD.”
Partnerships and funding, particularly from CJP, have been critical to those preventive operations.
“Without CJP’s help, we couldn’t have been here 24/7 for people. We couldn’t have trained volunteers. It was so meaningful for us,” Shenfeld said.
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