Our purpose is to go extend solidarity to the people of Israel while learning about the mental health impact of recent events, as well as its treatment and support on the ground. While focusing on Israel’s mental health space, in order to contribute and to bring insights back with us which can help serve our communities and clients back home. This is a fully tailored, customized voyage to Israel for Jewish mental health professionals to engage in and understand trauma and recovery efforts in Israel since October 7. The exact itinerary is TBD and will include some or all of the following: Trauma research and PTSD lectures, rehab center visits, volunteering opportunities, delivering Hanukah gifts to kids, soldiers, and families, self-care and sensory activities for therapists, bearing witness at Nova and the southern kibbutzim, meals with Israeli therapists to connect and show solidarity, and daily processing groups. The journey will be well-suited towards Jewish mental health professionals who are eager to engage more in the Israeli experience since October 7.

While our intensive and powerful four-day itinerary doesn’t have the space for lengthy drives to cities farther out or tourism-focused experiences, we encourage you to come early or stay late to take advantage of all of the amazing places to see. You can arrange this on your own or through our tour operator so you can stay unpacked in a single hotel room! More below…

The journey is open Jewish mental health professionals and graduate students living outside of Israel. Parts of the itinerary may be available to clinicians living in Israel, or partners/companions of those attending, based on availability.

We are staying at the beautiful Dan Panorama Hotel. The journey will take place primarily between Tel Aviv and the southern kibbutzim/Nova site. We do not intend to go to Safed, Eilat, or Masada. Feel free to consider staying in Israel before or after the journey to tour at your own leisure.

This is the first opportunity, since October 7th, for Jewish mental health professionals to experience their own cohort to travel, learn, grow, and give back with. It’s also being facilitated not just by a tour operator, but by therapists, who are deeply attuned to sensory needs, coping with intensity, and making space for self-care. We’ll have twice-daily process opportunities and we’re already arriving with a shared language and framework to make sense of the complicated and to integrate the innovation of Israeli colleagues and society to our everyday (spiritual and clinical) practice.

These are the inclusive rates for everything but flights (deposit, meals, lodging, programming, CE credit, and goodies listed just below). If you are planning to share a room with a colleague on this journey with us (whether you choose each other or are matched by us), your rate is $2,950. If you are rooming alone (or with a companion who is not part of our group), your inclusive rate is $3,750. If you are staying elsewhere, your price (includes everything but hotel and breakfast) is $2050. You will be invoiced by the JTC stripe account, first for your deposit and separately for your balance, with reminders going out regularly until the ultimate due date.

Your fees include lodging, meals, transportation while on the itinerary, 20 continuing education credits (NBCC, and with enough time, other accreditation that is requested), monthly Zoom pre-experience get-togethers in early September, October, November, and December to build connections and excitement, JTC staff and tour operation staff to support you in small ways during the experience, both intention and process sessions daily, a trove of resources in your own personal JTC Thinkific account, self-care/sensory items for during your stay, and a keepsake to take home with you. It does not include airfare, souvenirs, or additional excursions.

Sunday night Dec 22 – Thursday night Dec 26, 2024 (checkout Thursday morning). Extensions are available for lodging on either end, and if enough people are interested, there might be additional light/informal programming in those days for those who are interested.

No: as always, the Jewish Therapist Collective is a big tent organization. Our journey is restricted to only Jewish participants out of respect for the common culture and shared needs and goals, but things like observance and the label of your branch doesn’t matter. So too, the only political “requirement” for this experience is that we’re all on the same page that Israel should exist, but just like our community’s membership, the make up of this cohort may vary greatly about anything else.

The answer to this question will vary based on how many people stay on site, choose double versus singe occupancy, etc. We do know, based on interest, that it’s likely to fill up, so please be prompt. Our attendees range from their early 20’s all through their 70’s at this time, with a fairly even distribution so there are generational peers for everyone.

Per our tour company: “Participants should be able to walk about .5 mile (10 minutes) at a time. Participants should expect to walk up and down short flights of stairs, and somewhat uphill paths such as in Jerusalem which is naturally hilly. The tour bus is not accessible, meaning mobility aids such as wheelchairs or walkers would not be possible on the tour bus. There may be standing for brief periods of time, such as touring a rehab center, or walking around the Nova site.”

We have the rooming option of “single” or “double.” If you register for “double”, you’ll be rooming with a fellow therapist from our group, and we can arrange for you to room with a chosen friend or be matched by us. Registering “single” does not mean that you have to room alone: your partner and/or other companions may join. However, unless those traveling with you are adults and in mental health (and related) professions, they cannot participate in the bulk of the itinerary. However, they’re more than welcome to stay with you and arrange their own exploration while you’re with us.

Yes, our tour company is able to arrange a few extra days on one or both ends, but the sooner you reach out to firm up the plans, the better. We HIGHLY recommend you come an extra day early so you can adjust to the time difference and practice grounding and orienting to the space. There will be JTC staff there the day before but will be less available before the official itinerary begins.

There is a journey-only price which excludes hotel and breakfast, which means that you can stay anywhere outside the journey hotel (the Dan Panorama in Jerusalem), in any city. However please note: Those who stay elsewhere must commit to meeting us at the Inbal at least 30 minutes before departure time each morning to make sure the bus leaves on time. The bus will not wait!

We are dedicated to supporting and connecting with our Israeli colleagues, and so we intend to have some joint meals with our Israeli therapist colleagues. Given limited space, priority registration is given to those living in the diaspora, with opportunity for Israeli colleagues to register a few months closer to our journey’s commencement. Please do be mindful that the experience is catering to the experiences of diaspora participants but we’d love to have you so long as there’s space. Unless you decide to stay at the hotel, you need to arrive every morning 30 minutes before departure time—the bus waits for no one!

You have the option of missing pieces, but that will mean missing between a half day and full day of the experience, and the CE and meals that accompany it. You cannot wait on the bus instead, and this won’t impact the cost of your experience, but we can support you in designing an experience for yourself on the day whose activities aren’t a good fit for you (ie: choosing not to go to the massacre site is completely valid).

The likely answer is no, but we will be having a special dinner with Israeli clinicians who are part of our JTC community, and that is open to everyone. Everything else is a very likely “no.” Participants are asked to commit to attending the whole journey itinerary from Dec 22- Dec 26. This is due to limited space and minimum participant numbers required for this special journey to run. That said, pending permission from our speakers, any presenters that permit us to record will have video taken and it will be available to JTC members in their Thinkific portal.

We will open every day with an intention-setting small group huddle and a briefing about the day when we get on the bus, and end each day with a group process and grounding session. Mornings and afternoons will each be curated with speakers, tours, and experiential activities, which means that there will be 8 distinct modules themed around lighting the way forward. They’re going to blend tour, lecture, experiential activity, service, celebration, and culture in ways that connect directly to our connection to Israel, our profession, and our individual worldviews. Topics may include include expert trauma specialists’ sessions, sex and relationships in times like these, play and experiential therapies, equine-assisted therapy, psychedelic innovation, DBT and Israeli culture, Nature/wildnerness work, self-care, support from related professsions, etc. Meals are all included and the breakfast at the Inbal is exceptional. Our JTC staff will also help support those looking for light evening activity.

As therapists we know the importance of honoring one’s own boundaries and limits. It is important that each person consider their boundaries and honor them. There is no shame if you feel this might be too much for you. We are mindful of preventing overwhelm and compassion fatigue. There indeed will be a combination of lectures, volunteering, and self-care activities including processing groups to strike a balance. That said, this journey is geared towards Israel’s mental health space, and designed towards understanding resilience and trauma and recovery efforts in Israel since October 7. The journey thus will be well-suited towards Jewish mental health professionals who are eager to engage more, rather than less, in the Israeli experience since October 7.

Due to both security and booking logistics, we won’t be giving out the location/time/day details but, by our 90-day mark, we should be able to give you the salient topics and describe the backgrounds of our speakers and the details of our venues and facilitated activities without compromising any of that. But, you should know that we’ve got some incredible experts and innovative leaders…and possibly therapy horses and/or puppies.

Well, off the bat you WILL need your Passport, will need a Visa if your citizenship(s) don’t include Israel, and you will need to pay VAT if you are an Israeli citizen. Regarding the visa: For our journey, go to this website and choose the visa under ‘Tourism’ on the dropdown: https://israel-entry.piba.gov.il/ This is the general information for those living in the US and other countries with similar regulation. Our membership is international and diverse so please check with your own government for clarity on their requirements for traveling to/from Israel as well.

Per our tour company: “There will be an array of options at each journey-provided meal, including gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian options, such as Israeli salad. However, no hotel or restaurant in Israel guarantees zero cross-contamination, and participants with allergies should be mindful of their own restrictions that cross-contamination may occur. Please note that we CANNOT provide custommade meals per individual; for example, custom ‘no-salt’ meals cannot be provided. Participants should consider their own health needs before committing to visiting Israel.” Also, if you didn’t see it above, we cannot accommodate a nut, chickpea, or sesame allergy due to the variable environment and how saturated the Israeli culture is with these items. We want you to feel and be safe, so you need to know this limitation.

We highly, highly recommend you get travel insurance. Unfortunately, because this journey is in such high demand, because of all the leg work going into curating a meaningful experience for you, and because it takes time to plan and pay for travel arrangements, we have a fairly tight cancellation policy. The $500 deposit is non-refundable but, if you must cancel, we can apply it to a $500 voucher for JTC related events, education, resources, and membership costs. Cancelling before September 22nd will see you issued a full refund less the deposit. Cancelling between then and October 30th will see you issued a 50% refund. There will be no refunds after October 30th but we may be able to transfer your registration if you find someone to go in your place—they’d just need to pay the deposit. The opportunity to transfer your registration ends December 7th owing to it being so close to the start of the experience.

If the journey is cancelled due to outside forces, all but the $500 deposit will be returned to you, everyone will be given a full 20 hour CE program for those days and access to recordings, three years of JTC membership, and a $500 discount on a destination event/retreat of your choosing with the JTC (places coming up include the island of Curacao, Scottsdale and Sedona, and more). While this provides substantially more than $500 of value, we do understand that it isn’t ideal for everyone. However, those funds specifically pay for our web and admin support, continuing education accreditation, and other output we can’t mitigate if the trip gets cancelled. Depending on your travel insurance of choice, you may be able to recover it from them as well, in addition to the consolation benefits above.

While we can’t recommend a vendor, we want to remind you that not all travel insurance carries the same coverage so you’ll want to look at the details of the policy. Some people reach out to their credit card companies first to begin getting ideas of price and coverage. While we STRONGLY encourage travel insurance, you should know that our tour operator covers medical emergencies while in Israel.

Please message connect@jewishtherapists.org with questions. Don’t ask them in the Facebook group or in a DM to JTC leadership on Facebook because we’ll likely miss it. Email is your best bet!