LAUNCHING OUR PILOT PROGRAM
Our Goal:
Fortify 500
Children
Research shows that children who experience trauma from an early age are at risk of developing PTSD and other mental health complications later in life. By providing a proactive intervention to help children acknowledge and integrate their traumatic experiences into their broader life story, our pilot program equips children with the tools to process their difficult experiences and move forward with resilience.
Fortify Israel trains educators to build innovative, therapeutic support circles (maagalei siach) into school programming. Beginning with +500 children, these support circles have provided kids a safe space to unpack the difficult experiences of the past few months together and learn healthy ways to cope with anxiety and process other challenging emotions as the war continues.
To Date, We've Reached
650 Children in 18 Schools
Ashkelon
3 schools
97 students
Be'er Sheva
2 schools
53 students
Netivot
8 schools
315 students
Ofakim
4 schools
157 students
Sderot
1 school
28 students
Our Process
STAGE 1
Meeting the Community
In an evening event organized in a municipality, local educators and school administrators meet our staff, connect with our organization, and learn the basics of trauma-informed care. A presentation by one of our mental health clinicians educates participants to identify signs of distress and use practical tools to process, and help others process, a traumatic incident. School administrators recommend teachers who they think would be strong candidates to participate in an intensive educators’ cohort and learn to facilitate our programming in their schools.
STAGE 2
Training the Educator Cohort
After reviewing the recommendations and interviewing the candidates, we convene a cohort of 20 local educators. Over six, three-hour sessions with our mental health clinicians, the participating educators delve into the world of mental health, learn about the effects of traumatic experiences, and explore trauma-informed care and interventions. In these sessions, they are trained to facilitate maagalei siach—our innovative, therapeutic support circles—and have opportunities to practice essential skills under the guidance of our Director of Trauma Education, an expert practitioner herself.
STAGE 3
Working Together with Schools
Our clinicians connect with school staff to update them about the cohort’s progress and consult regarding the students registering for the maagalei siach. These channels of communication help staff identify students who need therapy and more intensive mental health interventions. In addition, select educators begin to facilitate their maagalei siach, each with ~15 students. Beginning while the educator training is in progress allows for the entire cohort to learn from their peers’ facilitation experiences.
STAGE 4
50 Support Circles, +500 Children
By the conclusion of the educator cohort’s training, all participants begin facilitating their maagalei siach, each group meeting for six sessions with ~15 students. These educators will receive weekly supervision from our clinicians as well as support from our staff.
By the conclusion of the pilot, +500 children from different schools across 5 cities have participated in our therapeutic support circles. Now, Fortify Israel is collecting feedback to assess the efficacy of the program and evaluate next steps for our work in these cities.
