Challenges of Returning Reserve Soldiers

By: Aharon Herskovitz

“Wow, so great you’re home, Aharon, now everything can go back to normal!” This sentence, and variations of it, have been said to me and countless other reserve soldiers over the last few months. Though well-meaning (and also an important injection of optimism and hope!), people’s wider networks are sometimes unaware of the challenges that returning reserve soldiers face.

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Communicating for Connection

By: Yonatan Schechter

A key task for couples is learning to express their needs explicitly, rather than expecting their spouse to read between the lines.

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How to Emotionally Support Children During Challenging Times – Speaking to your children about recent rocket attacks in Israel

By: Sara Feinberg

Following the recent rocket attacks, many parents have asked me how best to respond to their children and help them manage their concerns and fears. Just as we have all heard the booms and seen the news reports, our children too are well aware of what is happening. As parents it is our job to support them through these difficult times. Here are some recommendations that can help.

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Ways to Manage Worry Instead of it Managing You – Part TWO

By: Daniel Baum

In part two of my blog, “Worry! Ways to Manage Worry Instead of it Managing You”, I am going to present to you some general recommendations and thoughts about dealing with worry.

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Valuable Tips to Manage Pain

By: Ruth Shidlo

Given what we know today, it appears likely that unresolved trauma, whether minor or major, plays a role in the persistence of chronic pain, through mechanisms of kindling (a self-perpetuating phenomenon of neural excitation) and priming (in which the brain readies itself to respond a certain way), that cause us to continually brace ourselves against the threat that caused the pain or the internal threat of pain itself. This is great news, because it means that to the extent that the trauma is worked through at the body/mind level, the pain should either disappear or lessen.

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Bagruyot Testing Accommodations for Olim

By: Michael Roth

The primary focus here will be on accommodations for the Israeli Bagruyot. Providing accommodations at the Elementary school level is usually at the discretion of the school based upon psycho-educational testing. The Elementary school is not obligated in any way to provide the recommended accommodations and likewise can decide to allow them without a specific recommendation. There is no regulatory body regarding testing accommodations at the Elementary level.

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Why Invest in Your Relationship Skills Before You Even Find Love?

By: Micki Lavin-Pell

No one wants to live with a feeling that disaster can strike at any time….

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Unmasking Manipulation: Understanding DARVO and Reclaiming Your Reality

By: Yisroel Picker

Many of us encounter manipulation, but understanding its forms is key to navigating relationships healthily. This post delves into various manipulative tactics, with a special focus on the insidious DARVO strategy. Discover how recognizing these behaviors empowers you and learn about the path toward healing from their impact.

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Canary in the Coal Mine

By: Hadassah (Johanna) Hazan

This article is essentially a tool of empowerment for people who may identify as highly sensitive or perceptive; who have grown up in dysfunctional or abusive systems, and who have found themselves treated as if they are the problem.

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How to Create a Sense of Normalcy at Home While Navigating the New Normal

By: Karen Burgman

Covid brings with it feelings of anxiety, stress and uncertainty. Though children deal with emotions in different ways, your child has been faced with school closures, cancelled events or separation from friends, they are going to need to feel loved and supported now more than ever.

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40 Years of Research: Why Solving Your Marital Disputes is Not the Solution

By: Daniel Fund

Many couples think that they just need to be able to find an agreement, a compromise, a solution to their disagreements. And that couples' therapy is about solving their disagreements. In fact, for many years this is how couples' therapists approached therapy as well. Unfortunately, this approach failed and statistically, their success rates were very low. But the field of couples therapy research has changed dramatically. In the last 40 years, Dr. John Gottman, Dr. Leslie Greenberg, and Dr. Sue Johnson, to name a few major names have made real breakthroughs, having studied many thousands of couples, watching them closely in action, on live cameras, video, behind one-way glasses and otherwise. One of Gottman's findings is that about 70% of our disagreements as couples, never get solved! And this is true not only for failing couples but for the very successful couples as well! So, if solving problems is not what leads to success, what does? The answer is that as a therapist, I can help them reach such an emotional bond that makes the issue of solving problems redundant, a non-issue. Once they have this bond, they will not necessarily need me to solve their problems. Find out more inside.

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Grief Before Courage: What the Story of Esther Teaches Us

By: Naomi Zauderer

This post reflects on a women’s moon circle held during the Hebrew month of Adar, using the story of Esther as a framework for exploring passivity, purpose, and courageous action. Through discussion, journaling, and music, we examined the difference between emotional awareness and meaningful movement. The piece also explores how unprocessed grief can delay necessary conversations and growth. 

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How to Connect With Your Partner in the Pandemic and Beyond

By: Judy Markose

Consider this dream: you and your partner experience the pandemic with your marriage intact and your family even closer and more connected than ever. You can practice a more loving way of relating, with more kindness and giving. This blog offers practical tips for becoming a great communicator, being a generous listener, and adding gratitude to your relationship.

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Shining Light on Feelings 

By: Yannah Popovitz

When we are able to just be with whatever we are feeling and experiencing, without judgement or an agenda we bring light

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Can Adolescents Act Abusively?

By: Aviva Zahavi-Asa

Parents are often reluctant to admit that their teenager is acting in ways which are abusive due to their own feelings of guilt, shame or a sense of failure. In some of these cases, the adolescent was exposed to domestic violence or experienced abuse within the family at an earlier age and then repeats familiar family patterns at a later stage. In other cases, however, no history of abuse exists within the family.

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On Becoming a Personal Scientist: Living in the half-full glass

By: Ruth Shidlo

The half-full glass is the antidote to the half-empty one.

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Opening the Emotion Valve: Challenges and Strategies

By: Yonatan Schechter

Emotional growth is hard-won, but with the right approach, it is within anyone's reach.

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Ways to Manage Worry Instead of it Managing You – Part THREE

By: Daniel Baum

Worry! Ways to Manage Worry Instead of it Managing You
Part Three
Strategies to Help you Manage your Worrying
I am glad you are back again to read the final part of my blog Worry! Ways to Manage Worry Instead of it Managing You. In part three of my blog I will give you some specific strategies to help you manage your worrying.
Here are some specific strategies and tools that can help you avoid toxic worry. Let’s get to it shall we!
Hallowell’s Strategies of Managing Worry

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Earth, Water, Air, and Fire

By: Chava Lederer

The four classical elements are channels through which we make contact with the present moment reality, and engage our uniquely human mind – a mind capable of creativity, of connecting to others, of faith and spirituality.  I offer you these four elements as resources in moments of stress, panic, fear, or any other overwhelming experience.

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ADHD or Trauma?

By: Aviva Zahavi-Asa

Over the last few decades, many children and adolescents have been receiving a diagnosis of ADHD at alarming rates. ADHD, which is typically understood as a brain or nervous system disorder which tends to be genetic in nature, is often identified when a child shows symptoms of inattention, distractibility, hyperactivity and/or impulsivity. What unfortunately often gets missed with a diagnosis of ADHD, however, is the possibility that traumatic events may be the source of these symptoms.

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