The recent wave of terrorism in Jerusalem has reinforced the need for trauma and mental health services, in particular for children and adolescents. This is where the Jerusalem Crisis Intervention Center, supported by the generosity of Australian donors, is making a difference.
Dr Esti Galili-Weisstub and her team are working tirelessly to provide immediate treatment for children and adolescents suffering from psychological stress, trauma, depression, anxiety and PTSD.
It’s an ongoing challenge to treat those children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural issues; the added security situation augments the problems, adding to the workload of the team who are experts in clinical treatment of paediatric traumatic stress arising from a range of events such as terror attacks, domestic violence, grief, accidents, abuse and traumatic injuries.
A recent report from Israel’s Child Welfare Council highlighted alarming findings between 2019-2021, with an increase of about 19% in children’s visits to psychiatric departments for emergency medicine with a disturbing increase of about 13% in suicide attempts; an increase of around 39% in teenagers with depression; 33% increase in teenagers with anxiety; an increase of about 20% of teenagers diagnosed with stress and emotional disorders, and about 56% increase in teenagers with eating disorders.
Dr Esti Galili-Weisstub expresses it succinctly: “We can’t erase an event. But we can help children and adolescents make sense of it. And we can help them trust again. We pride ourselves in our ability to give what each child and each family needs. We feel it’s our calling to do this work”.
The JCIC needs our support to help them care for those who urgently need them.
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