7 Plus Circles of Hope

OUR MISSION Israel is experiencing an immense mental health crisis, with more than half of the population experiencing debilitating suffering and anguish. This crisis calls for a mobilization of all those willing to help. The 7 Plus project is a vision to help people in Israel who have been directly or indirectly harmed by the events of October 7th and the war that has followed. The government has committed to taking care of the population 7 kilometers (km) from the Gaza border and northern border. We want to go beyond these 7km, and that’s why we are called 7 Plus. Our mission is to offer support and empower individuals and families to cope with the effects of trauma. Our mission is to enable them to get their lives back, as well as to prevent second-generation trauma. In this way, we will help rebuild resilience and secure a better future for individuals, families, and Israeli society. OUR STORY We are a group of individuals from Israel and around the world who share a great love for the State of Israel and its people. As specialists with decades of experience in rehabilitation from trauma caused by war and terror, we have most recently volunteered in building a network of humanitarian and psychological assistance for Ukrainian war victims. This has included training and supervising Ukrainian professionals with clear improvement in resilience and relief from mental distress. With the outbreak of the war in Israel, we immediately began to use our extensive experience here at home. We have already built a large network of excellent therapists available to meet and help the victims of the war across Israel. OUR TEAM Shlomo Oman Founder and CEO Shlomo is an Israeli businessman, partner, and CEO of Beryl Davis Ltd., an Israeli manufacturer. In his volunteer activity, in cooperation with the Lev Ehad association, he deals with civil assistance in emergency situations. Until October 7, this help was focused on Ukraine, where he established a volunteer network for humanitarian aid and established a support program in the field of mental health. With Michal Newborn and teams from Israel, professional seminars in the field of treating war trauma were provided to professionals in Ukraine. The therapists in Ukraine who underwent the training also continue to receive weekly supervision from the professionals in the Israeli network. With the outbreak of the war in Israel, Shlomo organized a civilian “command center,” geared to manage the flow of civilian aid and began working with evacuees from the Gaza periphery. At the same time, he began to establish the foundation for the 7 Plus initiative in Israel. Moshe (Morris) Robinson Co-founder Moshe is a UK businessman, who has close ties to the State of Israel and holds dual citizenship. He is involved in many charities in the UK, and is the executor of various humanitarian projects. Since October 7th, Moshe is aiding in the recovery mission of Israel and the Jewish people, and joined Shlomo in establishing the 7 Plus project with the aim of providing an adequate professional response to the victims of the war in Israel and the UK. Michal Newborn Head of Clinical Services Michal is a clinical psychologist and senior supervising psychologist, who serves as a lecturer and instructor in the psychotherapy training program of the Israeli Association for Self-Psychology and Subjective Research. For the last two decades, she has been teaching and training professionals to treat victims of war trauma, terrorism, and sexual violence. With Shlomo Oman, she co-founded the project for training Ukrainian therapists in the treatment of war trauma. In recent years, Michal and Einat Harf-Kashdai have been teaching and guiding teams of professionals in the treatment of people who have experienced or are experiencing extreme life events. She previously worked as a clinical psychologist instructor in the student counseling services of Bar-Ilan University, as well as the clinical director of the Post-Trauma Clinic at Schneider Children's Hospital, and was a partner and Supervisor in Professor Eva Gilboa Shechtman's team that developed the protocol for the treatment of “prolonged exposure” (PE) in children and teenagers. Following the Second Lebanon War, she joined the Resilience and Recovery Project as a supervisor, where she trained dozens of therapists in northern Israel to treat patients with the PE method. Michal has also developed the “Unifying Therapy” method, an integrative therapeutic model that unites self-psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and has trained therapists in Israel and around the world in the application of this therapy for disorders related to trauma and loss (such as PTSD, anxiety and regulation disorders, OCD, and grief processing). Michal has published a number of professional articles and, together with Prof. Eva Gilboa-Shechtman and other co-authors, wrote a book on the self-care of social anxiety. Dr. Claudia Cogan Clinical Director of the Training program Claudia is a clinical psychologist and senior supervising psychologist, currently serving as a lecturer in several psychotherapy programs: at the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, in the program of the Israeli Association for Self-Psychology, and in the program of the Winnicott Center in Israel. Claudia is a renowned thinker in the field of self-psychology, where she has trained hundreds of professionals in Israel and leads work, learning, and writing groups in the field. Her articles form a theoretical basis for new works in the field, and are included in the regular study material of various psychotherapy programs in Israel. Claudia leads a number of social initiatives through which she has recruited therapists to act in solidarity with society. Her book “The Healing Power of Solidarity - A Philosophical, Literary and Psychoanalytic Journey” was recently published. She is the former Chair of the Israeli Association for the Psychology of the Self and the Study of Subjectivity, where she established and managed the three-year training program for “The Study of the Psychology of the Self.” Aliza Dolev Clinical consultant and Care Coordinator for the Families of Military Veterans and Soldiers Aliza specializes in the field of mental and social care for soldiers and other members of the security forces and their families. She currently manages the Israeli Medical Association's “Mifna” program for the psychological treatment of doctors. She was called up immediately at the beginning of the current war for reserve service and has held a number of key positions in the mental health system in the IDF since October 7. In the past, she was the head of the social work and victims branch in the Prime Minister’s Office. In this position she received a certificate of professional excellence from Israel's President. For 26 years Aliza has served her country and she retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. During her long service, she held a variety of positions: as the commander of the unit for treating combat reactions in the IDF, including the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic warfighters and victims of wars and other military operations. She was one of the founders and served as the commander of the “Career Service Institute” for the treatment of officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), personnel, and their families. As part of her reserve service, she is a member of the steering team for the project “Back to the Future,” which supports combat soldiers integrating back into life outside of combat. There she leads retreats for combat soldiers designed to allow them to succeed in the transition from intense combat to life outside a combat zone. Aliza is in the stages of writing her doctorate on captivity and physical torture – a psychoanalytic study inspired by the psychology of the self and the study of discourse. Aliza has an MA in social work. Einat Harf-Kashdai Clinical Director of Pediatric Therapy Einat is a developmental psychologist and senior supervising psychologist. She works as the head psychologist at the Institute for Child Development and in the Premature Prenatal Ward at Meir Hospital, where she established the developmental psychological specialization system for premature babies in Israel, and developed the psychological treatment for families of newborns hospitalized in intensive care. She founded and chairs the national forum for psychologists specializing in the treatment of prematurity trauma, as part of promoting diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of acute trauma situations at birth and in the first years of a baby’s life. She is a lecturer, instructor, and member of the steering team in the three-year program of the Israeli Association for the Psychology of the Self and the Study of Subjectivity. She writes and instructs about “embracing presence,” a dyadic treatment of early life trauma. She serves as a member of the professional committee for developmental psychology in Israel. In recent years, Michal Newborn and Einat have been teaching and guiding teams of public and private sector professionals how to treat people who have experienced or are experiencing extreme life events. Prof. Eva Gilboa-Shechtman Clinical Consultant for Quality Assessment and Treatment Improvement Currently, Eva serves as the head of the Emotional Processing Laboratory at Bar Ilan University. Previously, she was Head of the Psychology Department and Head of the Clinical Psychology major at Bar Ilan University. She has published more than 120 journal articles and book chapters. She is a member and researcher with the Society of the American Psychological Science. Previously, she was the clinical director of the Post-Trauma Clinic at Schneider Hospital, and headed the team that developed and researched the prolonged exposure (PE) treatment protocol for the treatment of post-traumatic disorders in adolescents and children. She was involved in the supervision of teams of professionals that treat victims of terrorist attacks in Israel and abroad. She is the co-author of the second edition of the PTSD Treatment Guide to be published by Oxford University Press in 2024. Together with Michal and other co-authors, she wrote a book on self-care for social anxiety. Gila Hackenbroch Clinical Director, England Gila is a family, couples, and systemic psychotherapist and an Internal Family Systems and Imago therapist, working as a psychotherapist in a private clinic and in community charities. She is actively involved in the life of the Jewish community in England through the Association of United Synagogues, where she serves as the senior rabbanit at the United Synagogue in London. Gila is also a visiting lecturer in systemic therapy at the Tavistock Institute in England. She joined the steering team of 7 Plus out of awareness of the plight of families in England and founded the British unit of 7 Plus, with the aim of supporting families in England whose children are serving in the IDF or where one of their relatives was injured or killed during the massacre on October 7 or during the war. Thiya Blumstein Clinical Director of Psychotherapy for Teenagers Thiya is a clinical psychologist and supervising psychologist and serves as therapist and supervisor at the Petah Tikva Mental Health Clinic, where she is a partner in the “Immediate Response” team – which includes treatment of acute crisis and trauma situations. There she engages in treatment, teaching, and training in the field of sexual abuse and complex trauma situations (CPTSD). Thiya is responsible for training clinical psychology students in the clinic as well as supervising interns and students in the field of treatment and diagnosis of children, teenagers, and adults. OUR GOALS Our goal is to offer professional help and support to diverse populations directly and indirectly impacted by the war in Israel and abroad: + Children and youth with distress from the war who are not entitled to public care. + The families and children of soldiers. + The relatives of the direct victims (kidnapped, injured, and deceased). + People within Israel who have lived in fear of the next horrendous attack. + Families of lone soldiers living abroad. We aim to provide treatments that enable complete recovery (between 6 and 12 months, or about 40 sessions for person/family). OUR NEEDS + To raise funding from external sources to significantly reduce any costs incurred by those seeking help. + To cover most of the cost of the treatments for more than a thousand families per year. A typical cost of a full therapy (40 sessions) is approximately 20,000 shekels (about £4300 or $5400). Please contact Shlomo for more info at partners@seven-plus.org