ADVISORS & ENDORSEMENTS

I am writing this letter to lend my support to this initiative and to the professional staff working to establish the EMET Center, a multi-disciplinary healing facility for religious women suffering from the effects of complex trauma and emotional distress. Complex trauma accompanied by serious emotional damage is much more common among religious women than anyone would imagine. The emotional distress resulting from sexual trauma is unique, especially if the abuse was prolonged and took place when the victim was young. This pain permeates all areas of a person’s life. It can cause physical, emotional and inter-personal difficulties which affect the survivor for many years after the physical trauma has passed. Establishing a safe space which will allow the trauma survivor to regain her peace of mind, recuperate and will provide appropriate, all-inclusive treatment which will lead to healing and empowerment would be a true blessing. This facility will address the woman as a whole, encompassing both her body and soul, reaching out to heal her pain and strengthen her inner resources. The EMET Center will provide sexual abuse survivors the opportunity to reframe themselves and their connections to others and to the world, and to once again experience beauty, kindness and self- acceptance. My vision is that under the supervision of their top professional staff, EMET will create a unique atmosphere and guarantee the wellbeing of each client who will have the privilege of being treated there. I bless the EMET staff and am hopeful that through EMET many women will find relief, recognition and healing. 

The goal of the EMET center is to provide the best possible treatment for women who are survivors of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse causes many severe ramifications – in both the short term and long term. Women who have experienced sexual abuse find themselves facing a stalemate situation. Therapy is expensive; additionally they find themselves going from one clinic to another to obtain the array of treatments required to facilitate their recovery.

The EMET center is offering multidisciplinary treatment in one location. These integrated therapies will address all aspects of the physical and spiritual traumas experienced by the survivors. This form of treatment will enable clients to benefit from a unique and effective recovery process which does not exist anywhere else in the world today. The EMET center’s program has been designed by leading professionals in their respective fields. 

I am sure that many victims will find a balm for their wounds within the framework of the EMET center and that the center’s holistic approach will bring about a most effective recovery process.

It is with excitement and great joy that I am writing to express my support of the establishment of the EMET center – the realization of a dream. Through my work in the field and my extensive familiarity with the needs of survivors of sexual abuse, I see the actualization of this center as long-awaited filling of a deep and painful void.

The facility will provide various therapeutic modalities, both physical and emotional/psychological, for complex post-trauma in a secure, protected environment with other women who are dealing with trauma and growing together as they heal. A staff of senior advisors in the field will guide the therapists to ensure that the victims receive the most professional, appropriate and reliable treatment available. The therapeutic staff will work in conjunction with each client to build her individual treatment program with an emphasis on the specific types of therapy and rehabilitation she requires. This in itself will provide a positive contribution to the victims’ peace of mind which they may have lost pursuing various methods to get help without knowing what is really available for them or who is properly trained in this type of work. At the EMET center all the help they need will be available, accessible and professionally researched through one umbrella organization.

Additionally, the EMET center will operate as a day center, rather than a private clinic. Located in an environment that is connected to nature, the women will have access and be encouraged to go outdoors, even in the most literal sense to step outside of the barriers they have often built for themselves and face the harsh and difficult world. The world of a survivor of sexual abuse can be very lonely. Even when she connects to people, often the survivor finds herself feeling like she has to conceal the story of her trauma and its effects on her daily life. The EMET center is based on a combination of group and individual therapy. This gives the survivors the opportunity to share their difficulties and challenge with each other in an interpersonal way which often serves as an important tool in their recovery and rehabilitation. 

As time passes, we’ve become aware that utilizing existing resources within the victims is essential and integral, not only for them to survive their trauma, but to be able to grow through it. Faith in G-d and His presence and support, even in the darkest places, is a very powerful resource for a trauma victim. At the EMET center clients will feel comfortable to talk about the presence of G-d in their daily lives and address the issue of where He was when they experienced their abuse. Working through this spiritual connection will take place in an accepting and supportive manner, understanding of the importance of bringing G-d into their healing process and including Him as part of the everyday lives of the survivors who have faith in Him. This connection to G-d can be expressed in the simplest fashion – by means of a private conversation or as part of a group discussion without anyone considering it out of the ordinary or irrelevant.

The vision of the EMET center was borne by the victims themselves on their own personal battlefields, amidst their pain, their distress, their isolation and the deep wounds that remain in their bodies, their souls and their relationships. This vision affords us the chance to regain our trust in one another, to trust our own ability to move forward; and also to trust ourselves and our potential for growth.

I support this vision wholeheartedly. I wish the founders much strength in their efforts towards the realization of a goal which I feel is so important. Every contributor towards this holy project can be assured that it is an investment well made.

As someone who has been working in research (author of 190 articles in scientific publications plus 7 books) for over 40 years in the field of child abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, diagnosing, as well as teaching and training therapists in treatment of survivors, I can attest to the lack of supportive resources and treatment for CSA victims. This fact, combined with the silencing of these victims by their families, community and even, unintentionally, public services increases their feelings of isolation, distress and the symptomatology of the victims becomes one of the risk factors for the abuse of the next generation. There is no doubt in my mind as to the need for establishing a “house” for victims of sexual abuse where they will receive all the therapies they require – psychological, family, couples, parenting and physical; a place which will provide emotional and physical shelter and will enable growth. Among the religious sector, specifically, where sharing the story of the abuse has more dramatic ramifications on all aspects of life, the silencing means abandonment of the victims (male and female) resulting in prolonged suffering and damage to universal social and religiousstandards.

I find myself extremely enthusiastic about the establishment of the EMET center in Israel. It has the potential of meeting a great need and providing the kind of help that can literally save lives. EMET can offer sexual abuse survivors a community that provides support, respect, compassion, connection and a safe place where their story can be told and fully heard. They might need to have their relationship with their bodies restored, their trust of others rebuilt, their ability to connect and enjoy simple things like nature, animals and life in general revived and rekindled. EMET is structured to offer all that in a multidisciplinary manner with a diverse professional team that can offer a variety of healing and restorative paths. EMET offers a unique home which doesn’t yet exist. Even observant, religious women will feel accepted and welcome in this healing facility. The vision of EMET is wholesome and humanistic. It is a much needed refuge for many women.

I am happy to support and recommend the important initiative of "EMET". Several types of response to trauma victims exist in Israel, but a comprehensive healing recovery facility almost doesn't exist, and to the best of my knowledge there is no such suitable setting for religious and ultra-religious women. The center's vision offers a broad and deep response, based on a structure that doesn't preserve the abusive power relations within which the abuse has taken place, while giving control and responsibility to the recovering women. At the same time, it also provides a protective environment to the women who come to heal, not giving up professional treatment in the fields of mental health, emotional therapy and para-medical treatment . The importance of an inclusive place that heals and restores the shattered self, that welcomes women from all sectors of society is very important. Moreover, its importance increases due to the response it strives to give to the religious and ultra-orthodox public, for which there are very few suitable places to be treated and healed in . I welcome the initiative, and will be happy to be of help as it grows and develops in the future

EMET is going to be life-changing, and life-saving, for so many women. I am happy to be a small part of this ambitious and important project. A place that aims to respectfully meet survivors of sexual abuse in their body/mind/soul. Twenty years ago, when I began using SE on my sexuallly abused clients, I saw that the somatic work was too overwhelming for many of them. At the same time, inhabiting their body was exactly what they needed. So I developed a map for more gentle somatic work with abuse survivors, small but profound steps that they are able to manage without getting flooded. I have taught this tailor-made approach, Reclaiming the Body, to therapists who work with sexual abuse all over the Jewish world. May we have the humility, wisdom and self awareness we need to hold this space as we carefully guide each woman forward in her healing.

Women who experience sexual abuse have a most difficult and often lengthy journey to healing. I have worked with victims of sexual abuse for over three decades. I believe that a place like the EMET center, which is culturally sensitive, a place where women can heal using a variety of holistic therapies, is long overdue. I feel privileged to act as a consultant for the EMET center and participate in its creation. In the four decades of clinical work I have worked with women experiencing sexual abuse. I believe every woman has the right to heal as a woman and a sexual person.

I am a newcomer to Jerusalem and find it a privilege to bring my experience and expertise to Emet.

I am writing to express my ardent and whole-hearted support for the establishment of the EMET center. Women who experienced childhood sexual abuse are at increased risk for heart attack, stroke and early mortality. Much of this risk is mediated through increased smoking, obesity, depression and other psychosocial factors. As a cardiologist and the director of the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center for Women at Hadassah, I see a critical role for centers such as Emet to provide comprehensive care to these women who are at high risk, providing them with the emotional support and the tools for self-care. It would be my privilege to integrate resources that promote long term health and wellness to the holistic approach of the Emet Healing. The natural surroundings together with resilience training, increasing self-efficacy and a health promoting environment can reduce the long term risk while enabling these women to lead fulfilling and joyful lives.

The human body and mind are inextricably intertwined. When a woman undergoes a traumatic experience, her body feels the effects in a myriad of ways. In addition to post traumatic mental disorders (such as PTSD), it is well known that unprocessed trauma contributes to a variety of bodily illnesses (for example ibs, chronic pain, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia). Additionally, traumatic experiences can trigger autoimmune diseases as well as other physical maladies. By healing the mind, healing the spirit and soothing the soul of trauma survivors, this center is contributing immeasurably towards these women’s overall health and wellness.