Emergency situations disrupt our routine, interrupt the functional continuity and make us feel helpless and with no control. There is a well-known sentence that we use in emergency situations. “In an abnormal situation, every reaction is normal.” In times of emergency and crisis, we often witness people with extreme behaviors and reactions on several levels: physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioral.
Among my occupations, I serve in reserve duty as head of the Resilience Unit for the casualty notification officers in the IDF, and I have accumulated extensive experience in the army and in civilian life, accompanied by professional intervention in emergency and crisis situations.
This area of expertise includes understanding the processes and stages of emergency situations and population behavior in these situations, as well as acquiring practical and effective techniques for coping optimally in these situations. The goal is to reduce the likelihood of ongoing post-traumatic stress reactions and to bring about rapid rehabilitation and representation of the injured. The knowledge I have accumulated I pass on to individuals and groups in order to allow as many people as possible to cope best with emergencies in their lives, from routine disruptive events to significant life crises.
In recent years, I am happy to be part of a professional organization called MAHUT Israel, which deals with emergency preparedness and building personal and community resilience. Training in the fields of primary mental intervention in emergency situations, building personal and communal resilience, caring for the therapist, self-care for therapists, coping with loss and bereavement, and casualty notifications.
MAHUT Israel is one of 40 organizations dealing with the field of psycho-trauma and belongs to ITC “Israel Trauma Coalition.” This organization sends us as professional facilitators to various places in the world following emergency, terror and natural disasters to help the population in coping and rehabilitation. We train local professionals (psychologists, social workers, hospital staff, teaching staff, community leaders, youth counselors, police, etc.) with knowledge and tools that will enable them to help the population in the best possible manner. In recent years, I have been involved in professional missions and have been sent to train teams: in Syrian refugee centers in Berlin, in the Philippines following the typhoon, in Pittsburgh USA following the shooting in the synagogue, and in Los Angeles USA following the fires. The courses are all conducted in English, including theoretical knowledge from the field of emergency, trauma and bereavement, and the practice of practical tools for intervention and treatment.