Nefesh Lenefesh

Nefesh Lenefesh provides children, youth and adults from the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) and general communities with multidisciplinary mental health services with a rehabilitative approach, holistically serving patients’ needs along with those of their families. Individuals with developmental, neurological, communication, and/or emotional disabilities are offered diagnosis and treatment at low or no cost. In addition, Nefesh Lenefesh focuses on prevention by early intervention and treatment. Its mission is to rehabilitate patients so they can integrate into normative society. Teams of psychiatrists, psychologists and para-medical professionals, with a variety of specializations, work together on each case for optimal results. This multidisciplinary rehabilitative approach allows for evaluation and treatment of patients in the various roles they play in life. The treatment is provided with an understanding and sensitivity to the social and ethical norms in each community. Nefesh Lenefesh is unique among mental health providers because it specializes in providing customized professional services for the ultra-Orthodox community, which is grossly underserved. Professionals, who are not familiar with the complexity of this community’s religious and cultural norms, have difficulty diagnosing and treating this population. Nefesh Lenefesh trains all of the clinicians to work with the ultra-Orthodox community. Nefesh Lenefesh clinics are open to the general population and not limited to the ultra-Orthodox communities. The more than 30 members of the professional and para-professional staff are representative of a broad spectrum of Israel’s population. Nefesh Lenefesh offers psychiatric and psychological treatment for individuals with severe mental illness in addition to diagnosis, treatment and therapies such as addiction treatment, marriage counselling, diagnosis of learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorder. It operates a hotline 24/7 with a team ready to handle emergency situations as they arise. Nefesh Lenefesh offers comprehensive assistance to families in crisis, who are trying to cope with more than one family member who requires psychological treatment. It offers support to these families, recognizing that the entire family is impacted on all levels when several members require serious psychological care. Treatment often spans the course of years and many families find that they are unable to afford necessary treatment, without which the patients will significantly deteriorate mentally. Nefesh Lenefesh offers these families financial assistance by way of subsidies for the psychological treatments it provides. In addition, Nefesh Lenefesh offers holistic psychiatric and psychological treatment, marriage counseling, emotional therapy, psycho and psychodidactic diagnosis. Nefesh Lenefesh provides each family with a case manger who is available 24 hours /day to guide them with all relevant authorities including governmental agencies, children’s schools, and other institutions in an effort to fully rehabilitate the entire family so that they can return to their normal level of functioning.