Israeli children in emotional distress helped by Ohel Organization

Recent study indicates that 84% of Israeli children suffer from emotional distress since Oct. 7 attacks.

Jerusalem (Feb. 26, 2024) – Israeli children suffering from emotional distress following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks are receiving help from an unlikely place: Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, a Jewish organization based in Brooklyn, N.Y., that has provided American children with mentalhealth support since 1969.

In recent weeks, the organization translated to Hebrew, then printed and distributed in Israel two of its successful workbooks for children about emotional resilience, a resource that has already helped thousands of children in the New York area by generating emotional openness and discourse.

The organization’s efforts on behalf of Israeli children developed after a study conducted by the Israeli Pediatric Association found that 84% of Israeli children suffer from emotional distress due to the Oct. 7 attacks. The study concluded that 93% of children directly affected by the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the ongoing war are having emotional difficulties, with 69% of them suffering from anxiety. Ninety percent of children living in areas where many incoming-missile sirens sounded are having emotional difficulties.

The workbooks, “Inner Space: My Resilience Workbook” (for elementary school ages) and “I Feel That Way and That's Okay!” (for preschool children), constitute a therapeutic tool for children, given too few mental health professionals to handle this increased need. The authors, Tzivy Reiter, L.C.S.W., the organization’s director of children’s and national trauma services, and Dr. Naomi Baum, Ph.D. from Israel, called the books a unique way to help Israeli children without the direct involvement of mental health professionals.

“The workbooks enable children to talk about their feelings and create an appropriate starting point for teachers to start a conversation with the children about the current situation,” Reiter explained.

“Inner Space: My Resilience Workbook” helps children identify their strengths and enhances their ability to understand and regulate their emotions by developing coping tools. A companion teacher’s guide contains many supplementary activities for the classroom to integrate skills and concepts from the workbook into practice.

“I Feel That Way and That's Okay!” helps children understand how their bodies experience their emotions. It is an innovative resource that touches on the four cornerstones of healthy development in young children: emotion regulation and coregulation, attachment, communication and interception. The book helps children identify and learn to manage their emotions with the help of adults in their lives, laying a strong foundation for building resilience from a very young age.

"We want to teach our children to recognize their feelings and to embrace them,” said Reiter. “This creates a foundation for understanding and compassion that will last a lifetime. It teaches kids practical tools to identify and manage emotions.”

David Mandel, the chief executive officer of Ohel, said that the workbooks, while a tremendously helpful start, are not replacements for care provided by mental-health professionals.

Educators have lauded the workbooks, with Israeli teachers saying that the country had lacked a tool of this kind to prompt children to discuss their emotions with teachers and parents.