Treatment Center for Religious Women & Girls

The Need:

It came to our attention the need to open a center to provide culturally sensitive treatments for adolescent girls and women, from the local orthodox community, suffering from a range of problems and mental health issues. The orthodox community is a close knit society with unique cultural needs. This population group is characterized by large families with low incomes, who are committed to a lifestyle of observance to Jewish law and who are reluctant to come forward and divulge personal problems. They rely to a large extent for help and guidance on the local Rabbinical leadership.

At present, no center specializing in the specific needs of orthodox girls and women, in need of treatment and empowerment, exists in Haifa or northern Israel. The issues to be addressed in such a center include: trauma resulting from abuse, post partum depression, anxiety, distress, personality disorders, issues relating to fertility, eating disorders and more.

According to one community worker – 40 women in the community request some kind of help every month (by phoning the volunteer community worker who then refers the women to the appropriate services, if they exist). Although this community worker does try and refer women and girls to public services in local hospitals and clinics, on the whole, most women and girls are reluctant to access services. The reasons include: lack of agreement on the part of their Rabbi, fear that their cultural needs will not be understood or fear that their values won't be accepted and respected. To name just a few of the needs - this population group needs a culturally sensitive approach, a discrete location to ensure privacy, and a non-judgmental attitude respecting their value system and way of life. In addition, agreement and support on the part of the community Rabbis is essential.

Pnina Berkowitz, Educational Director of the Haifa Center, claims that of all the children who use our services, 50% of their parents need treatment. Of those parents who need treatment, 80% are mothers. It is not uncommon for mothers of big families to carry the burden of running the home and raising a large family, alone.

Orthodox women are motivated to build a strong and healthy family unit. It is crucial to cooperate with the community leadership who influences families in their attitudes to treatment. Unfortunately, at present, most of these women do not turn to professional help, and continue living a life of distress and strain, which in turn impacts negatively on families. Not only do mothers suffer, but their children, too, are victims of an unfortunate situation.

Adolescent girls in this community suffer from the same problems as their counterparts in other countries. Eating disorders, for example, are prevalent to the same extent as in other western societies. A center geared for the emotional, mental and physical needs of these girls serves to fill a void that exists in this society.

Project Description:

The center is based on a model used at the Bnei Zion Hospital and run by Yael Keidar, MA and Psychotherapist. It is an ambulatory center – treating women and girls from the age of 12 onwards, individually and in groups. Staff members include a psychiatrist, social workers, psychotherapist, and trauma expert. The center operates in conjunction with other clinical centers: Bnei Zion Clinical Center for women who are victims of sexual abuse; Rambam Hospital – Psychiatric and Eating Disorder Units.

In the future, services will be expanded to include workshops in a variety of areas such as: empowerment for women, self-awareness, parenting skills, nutrition, vocational guidance, and prenatal classes.