Dr. Aviva Teller, beloved of the city of Haifa, passed away

Dr. Aviva Teller, beloved of the city of Haifa and wife of Prof. Yehezkel Teller, president of the Gordon Academy, passed away earlier this week (21/8/23).

Teller was born in Haifa in 1939. After studying sociology and psychology in Jerusalem and later at the University of Haifa, she founded and managed for two years the center for drug victims of Klalit Health Services. She then completed a master's degree in social work in the field of mental health at the University of Pittsburgh in the USA and did a doctorate on personality of the volunteer.

Throughout her life, Dr. Teller developed a long career as a lecturer at the School of Social Work. She founded the field of social work at Emek Jezreel College and two organizations dealing with the rehabilitation of the mentally injured in the community.

The darling of the city of Haifa

In 2010, Dr. Aviva Teller was awarded the title "Darling of the City of Haifa". The members of the committee justified their choice of Dr. Teller as a token of appreciation for her being a pioneer in delineating ways of treating the weak in society, while building models that emphasize the respectful approach to patients. "For the love of people, understanding and patience is a cornerstone in her therapeutic work and in the models for dealing with situations of bereavement and loss that she has developed. For her initiatives to develop frameworks to help those in need and for training students and workers to care for them and restore them within the community."

love a person

It was also stated in the committee's reasoning that the award was given to Dr. Teller also thanks to her love for people and her enormous capacity for giving.Aviva's starting point in her work is human love. During all the years of her work, in parallel with her many occupations, she also engaged in extensive voluntary giving activities in the community: to judges, lawyers, academic staff, counseled families in crisis situations, volunteered at the "Door Open" center for the treatment of at-risk youth, assisted in the reception of immigrants from the US and the Commonwealth of Nations , devoted 15 years to the treatment of terminal cancer patients, took care of bereaved parents in the Ministry of Defense and more."

"A sharp woman, who stood behind what she believed in"

Dr. Nava Arkin, who was part of the faculty at the School of Social Work, remembers Dr. Teller's sharpness and willingness to stand behind what she believed in. "I worked with Dr. Teller for quite a few years. She was a very sharp woman, with broad knowledge and analytical analysis ability. She was also a very direct woman, one who did not go with the flow. If she believed in something, she always stood behind it. Without a doubt, she was very diligent, professional on the practical and theoretical side.

Dr. Teller has mentored students and social workers in recent years in the field of mental health. She was on the team that pioneered the collaboration between the Municipality of Haifa and the university about 40 years ago. She was part of a project with the municipality, when the municipality took a senior staff member from the university to mentor within the municipality in the welfare department The courses she taught at the university were mainly therapeutic courses. She also dealt with crisis and bereavement therapy. She was an opinionated woman, with a backbone, not one who says what you want to hear, but what she really thinks and believes in," says Dr. Arkin.

"I remember a woman of values, sensitive and very empathetic. I was very characterized by her logical analytical thinking. I worked with her for many years in parallel groups at the university. She developed, together with Miriam Brill, a model for assessing a patient and the systems in his life, which is something that greatly promoted the person in the environment and in the interaction with the systems in his life At the time it was innovative."

A live team here shares in the family's grief.
R.I.P.