SafeHeart, which has been providing mental-health treatment to survivors of the Oct. 7 music festivals and their families, has concluded a series of five retreats for professionals held during July and August at the Secret Forest in Cyprus.
Hundreds of professionals participated in the retreats, drawn from SafeHeart’s network of approximately 400 therapists who have been supporting trauma survivors since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Participants included clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers and mind-body therapists.
Reut Plonsker, vice president and clinical director of SafeHeart, said “for three years, we as mental-health professionals have been on the country’s psychological front line, carrying alongside our patients some of their most difficult stories and unbearable pain. These retreats gave us a space to process, to support and be supported and to be held ourselves. We saw therapists arrive exhausted and leave with renewed strength, and above all, with the knowledge that they are not alone. As October approaches, after three years like these, this is not an indulgence. It is a necessity.”
Since Oct. 7, the therapists have been treating survivors experiencing complex and prolonged trauma, while also managing the effects of sustained exposure to their patients’ experiences. Compassion fatigue and secondary traumatization are documented challenges among professionals who work with trauma survivors over extended periods.
The retreat series, titled “The Road Continues to Open,” was developed to provide therapists with time to process their experiences, strengthen their personal and professional resources, and prepare for the period surrounding the third anniversary of Oct. 7.
The program included small- and large-group sessions, mind-body workshops, shared activities and time for rest, with professional support throughout. Two of the five retreats also included facilitators from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), who led participants in mind-body practices through a supportive group process.
The retreats are also being evaluated through a research study examining participants’ burnout, resilience and sense of meaning before the retreat, immediately afterward and one month later. The findings will inform SafeHeart’s ongoing support for its network of therapists as they prepare to enter a fourth year of treating survivors.
Tal Shani-Or, Ph.D., supervising rehabilitation psychologist and supervisor at SafeHeart: “In a small, intimate group, we created a space to reflect on the journey we have taken since Oct. 7, both as therapists and as human beings. We were able to give space to what had accumulated within us; recognize the strengths and resources we had developed; and look ahead to how we want to continue. It was also strengthening to be part of a community of therapists who understand, sometimes almost without words, the complexity of this work. These spaces allow us to stop, process, connect and recharge so that we can continue to be there for those we support.”
