New service: Klalit's resilience coaches

A new and ground-breaking service gives patients facing emotional distress the possibility of targeted resilience training. The goal: providing a one-stop solution while striving to improve the quality of life.

These are complex days for all of us. No matter how we look at it, it seems that the events of the seventh of October succeeded in a certain way in shaking our lives from end to end. Since then, many of us have been dealing with a feeling that the ground has been dropped from under our feet, combined with the lack of a sense of personal security and a reality that every day entails a series of challenges the likes of which we have not known until today.

A major part of the new reality that has been imposed on us also affects the emotional stability in our lives, which is combined with feelings of anxiety and confusion, to the point of real anxiety. In an attempt to provide an effective and high-quality response to the described scenario, in recent months, Klalit has launched a new service in the form of "resilience coaches". These are actually social workers and graduates with a bachelor's degree in psychology, who underwent dedicated and intensive accelerated training by the experts of the Shlavta mental health hospital from the Klalit group.

Their role is designed to help patients deal with emotional difficulties that arise, while striving to improve their quality of life. The service is carried out with the help of practical tools that are delivered during the 'emotional training', and which are designed to enable the patients to deal optimally with the various emotional difficulties they face.

'Resilience training'

The 'resilience training' includes a short and focused intervention that takes place within the framework of several individual sessions, using 19 structured modules that are customized to the needs of the patients. For example, they help overcome anxiety, sleep disorders, depression symptoms and emotional stress. The trainings are actually suitable for anyone who faces 'soft' emotional difficulties such as: sleep difficulties, nutrition-lack of appetite, excess appetite, negative thoughts, negative emotions, respiratory distress/physical symptoms and others and is interested in upgrading the quality of his life, despite the inherent difficulties these days" , explains Yifat Alon, director of the general social work service for the Haifa and Western Galilee district and coordinator of the field.

Michael Komtiani, a graduate of a bachelor's degree in psychology working in the Haifa district of Klalit, is one of 10 resilience coaches at Klalit in the Haifa and Western Galilee district. Michael provides resilience training at Klalit Clinics - Tirat Carmel West and Gali Carmel.

He says about his role:

I feel very privileged to take part in such a significant program of Kalit, which provides an available solution for many people who face emotional distress on one level or another. To date, I have met patients who are thirsty for knowledge and specific guidance in the field. Some are in a storm of emotions or feelings of confusion. Our goal is to try and help them function better in their day-to-day life. The very focus and delineation of the source of the emotional problem, succeed in most cases in making the difference for them. In addition, the resilience training provides them with practical tools designed to improve their quality of life and to respond to the hardships they feel immediately. I see from the side how much the emotional training benefits them. It fills me with great satisfaction.

Ansab Hujirat, a strength trainer who starts accepting patients this month at Klalit clinics in Shafaram, Nofit and Tel Hanan, explains why you should come to strength training:

We are in an emotionally intense period, and experience strong emotions over a long period of time. This is a situation that should be addressed in order not to worsen the mental state. Immediate and focused treatment during emotional distress has been found to be effective not only in overcoming the current crisis but also in learning ways of coping and resilience and adaptation skills in the future.

The service is free of charge for Klalit members and is intended for the general public, those who mainly need preventive care or specific and targeted intervention. You can contact the service through the national hotline 8703* with a referral from the attending physician or the clinic staff. It should be noted that the service is not suitable for patients who are in active mental health treatment, who urgently need drug treatment, or psychiatric counseling, who are in a state of danger, suicidality or the use of addictive substances, and are unable to adhere to treatment. It is important to seek professional help if you experience symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Zohar Fish - a resilience coach who will provide services at the Klalit clinics in Kneam Illit (Hanuriot) and Emek HaShalom adds:

We are not asking the public to know how to take care of themselves but to protect themselves. Get to know new skills, be exposed to methods and techniques for alleviating anxiety and depression symptoms, and learn to apply them to themselves and their immediate environment. This is how the 'ripple effect' was created, the effect that patients have on those who touch their lives. In other words, to break through the incubator of the treatment room so that each patient can pass on what he has learned and applied.