The first professional mental-health care delegation from the World Zionist Organisation for Jewish refugees from Ukraine landed in Poland Sunday morning.
Masses of refugees have arrived in recent days from Ukraine to Poland, including thousands of Jewish refugees, many of whom are concentrated in Warsaw. With the arrival of the refugees, the need for post-trauma treatment has arisen.
The Diaspora Department of the World Zionist Organisation, which is in constant contact with the Jewish communities around the world, responded to the call of the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Mordechai Shodrich, who turned to the department for help.
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The Diaspora Department recruited the first delegation of its kind in the field of resilience and post-trauma mental health care to fly out and assist with the care of the refugees.
The delegation will not only be engaging in on-the-ground care and treatment but will also be training caregivers from the Jewish community in Poland so that they may continue providing this critical care and support. The delegation will work directly with the Jewish refugees from Ukraine and will provide the vast experience that the State of Israel has in the field of trauma.
The delegation includes psychologists and social workers from the Israel Trauma Coalition and members of the Diaspora Department and the Department of Community Resilience at the World Zionist Organisation.
A special briefing over Zoom before the departure of the delegation was attended by Minister for Diaspora Affairs Nachman Shai, acting chairman of the Jewish Agency Yaakov Hagoel, heads of the Israeli Trauma Coalition, and Shuli Davidovich, head of the Diaspora Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The State of Israel is the state of the Jewish people and as such we have a duty to help every refugee and needy Jew. The Diaspora Department of the World Zionist Organization has come to help strengthen and uplift our brothers in times of need,” Nerya Meir, Head of the Diaspora Department of the WZO, said Sunday.