16 | OCTOBER 31 • 2024 J
N

I

sraeli trauma specialist Renana
Danon is leading a U.S. speaking
tour that includes a stop in Metro
Detroit at the Jewish Federation of
Detroit’s free lunch-and-learn event
on Sunday, Nov. 3.
Held at Congregation
B’nai Moshe in
West Bloomfield,
“Overcoming Trauma:
Israeli Youth Mental
Health Post 10/7” is
open to the community
and anyone interested
in learning more about how the
ongoing crisis is impacting the
mental health of Israeli teens.

Danon, who serves as ELEM’s
assistant director of clinical training,
will share the critical work that the
Israeli nonprofit is doing to support
at-risk youth by providing mental
health and trauma care. Danon
oversees employee training and
develops specialized training sessions
to ensure all staff are equipped with
the knowledge and tools to respond
to these challenges.
Dr. Tracey Stulberg, a
Birmingham-based therapist, will
also be speaking.
ELEM serves more than 12,500
youth annually, addressing
issues such as domestic violence,

substance abuse, neglect, bullying,
homelessness and prostitution.
The organization helps care for
and reintegrate youth into their
communities through counseling,
mentorship and job training.
“The mental state of Israelis,
and especially Israeli youth, is very
uneasy these days,” Danon says.
“The situation is so dynamic that
a weekend can completely change
everything. Teens need a steady
routine and a safe environment to
grow in — right now,
they are mostly faced
with uncertainty,
real physical
danger, and
traumatizing
stories and
images.”

ISRAEL’S
YOUTH
MENTAL
HEALTH CRISIS
A staggering ELEM
impact report completed
in July 2024, six months after
the Hamas attack, found the majority
of Israeli youth are experiencing
trauma-related conditions.
The eye-opening report also
discovered that 30% of the
approximately 150,000 people
evacuated from their homes because
of the ongoing conflict are teens and
young adults.
Data obtained from youth
evacuation centers that partner with
ELEM show that more than 50% of
displaced youth are dropping out of
traditional school, family and social
frameworks. Of that group, 47%
started consuming drugs and alcohol
at what ELEM calls “alarming” rates.
Several factors are at play in
Israel’s growing youth mental health
crisis. Direct trauma, exposure to
harmful online content, interrupted
lives and destabilized family units are
only a few contributors of many that
are harming the mental health of
Israel’s youngest generations.
Among 200 surveyed teens,
a shocking 87% experienced
loneliness, depression and anxiety.

Another 64% felt absence of family
support, while 56% experienced
poverty and hunger.
Still, the news isn’t all bad. ELEM
found some improvement in Israeli
youth mental health compared to
the first quarter initially following
the war. The organization says this
can be attributed to direct assistance
programs, robust communities and
moves to permanent housing.
Initiatives operated by ELEM, like
Breathing Spaces in schools (which
were established
to take care of
teens and young
adults exposed to
direct and indirect
trauma) help
reduce the impact.
These Breathing
Spaces are
informal mental
health spaces
that support youth
evacuated from the
Gaza perimeter and the
North of Israel, which is
the closest to Lebanon.
In total, 2,504 teens in distress
have reached out to ELEM’s
WhatsApp and other chat mental
health support options as of July
2024. It’s a crisis experts are calling
crucial to address.

STANDING IN SOLIDARITY
Sharing knowledge and information
about Israel’s youth mental health
crisis and ongoing efforts like those
initiated by ELEM help draw global
awareness to this growing issue.
At Federation’s Israel & Overseas
free lunch-and-learn event on Nov. 3,
guests will hear firsthand about the
impact that the war has had — and
continues to have — on Israeli youth.
Danon will share firsthand
accounts of ELEM’s work on the
ground, challenges faced by youth in
Israel and methods being employed
to provide continuous care as the
situation evolves.
“The Detroit lunch-and-learn
will be a very interesting event for
anyone interested in the efforts to
support youth in this awful war,”

A lunch-and-learn event through Federation
is highlighting the impact of the ongoing
war on Israel’s youngest populations.

Israel’s Hidden
Youth Mental
Health Crisis

Renana
Danon

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Breathing Spaces
in schools were
established to
take care of
teens and young
adults exposed
to direct and
indirect trauma.