2021 has been particularly challenging, as we started the year still in the midst of the Corona crisis, and throughout the year, we even entered Israel’s third lockdown. We had to make reassessments and face new challenges, yet some of them even provided us with a unique opportunity for growth, development and technological advancement. We have established a new set of services for parent support, guidance and counselling, titled Nitzan Call Center, offering free of charge, face-to-face meetings with senior professionals in the fields of counselling and care.
During this year Nitzan has faced particular challenges in operating the Residential Centers and Parent Centers, which required unique, customized and quick reassessments and responses to the dynamic conditions and needs.
Importantly, in July of 2021, Nitzan – National Center, Society for the Advancement of Children and Adults with Adjustment, Functioning and Learning Disabilities was granted Special Consultative status by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN).
Nitzan Residential Centers
Nitzan’s management was quick to address lockdown instructions and accordingly provide much-needed answers. Immediate responses included returning some residents to their parents’ homes and effectively maintaining ongoing contact with residents through the zoom application.
Led by Dr. Mali Danino, the managers of residential centers, alongside staff and caregivers, worked 24/7 to provide suitable customized response and support to the residents and their families. Immediately after the pandemic outbreak, we have purchased and distributed protective equipment and sanitizers; intensive information and training activities were conducted, both individually and in groups, in order to help the residents understand and adapt to the new situation.
For each resident – an adapted work plan was built and a structured agenda was organized, in complete accordance with the annual treatment plan. The employment coordinators kept in touch with the employers and mediated the residents’ terms of employment during this difficult period. The residents who stayed in the apartments were consistently provided with hot meals, more frequent social workers visits, night guides, a Shabbat guide and house-mother for daytime hours. All frontal trainings, studies, therapeutic sessions, leisure and social activities have been digitally adjusted and moved successfully to Zoom, while paying close attention to the mental and social well-being of the residents, maintaining routine activities and encouraging high morale throughout.
Nitzan Parents Centers
The significant work continued throughout this challenging period in all of Nitzan centers. We made sure to keep close contact with the families, and provide them with ongoing guidance and instruction via zooming and telephone conversations. The centers’ staff aided families in various areas: contacting the Welfare Department to assist with food delivery and budgeting, contacting caregivers to assist families with children who have learning disabilities, assisting parents in their homes when encountering crisis situations, and supporting individuals in exercising their rights with Social Security
staff.
All parent & child group activities continued to take place via zoom. Our offices maintained close and continuous contact with the managers of Nitzan Residential and Parent Centers, as well as the managers of branches spread nationwide. We made sure that regular, fully attended zoom sessions were held, so we can help everyone get through the difficult times. We have provided ongoing guidelines and followed procedures when it came to closing branches, workers completing their reserve duties in the IDF, the Purple Badge (Tav Sagol) guidelines (measures and regulations established following Covid 19 to maintain social distance and avoid crowds), and assessments for returning to work during the pandemic.
Nitzan Call Center
personal Zoom meetings
for parent counselling and support
In December 2020, Nitzan started running a new set of services for parent support, guidance and counselling, offering free of charge, face-to-face meetings with senior professionals in the fields of counselling and care.
The service is intended for parents in general, and parents of children with learning
disabilities and attention deficit disorder in particular. It provides a multidisciplinary solution to academic, social and behavioural difficulties; consultation regarding the need for diagnosis, or advice towards implementing recommendations following diagnosis; study/therapeutic interventions and learning adjustments; readiness for first grade and assistance in communication; and building cooperation in the school’s educational staff.
Appointments are made through a designated scheduling system, that allows parents to choose the date and the professional individual who is relevant to the difficulties they are facing. The service was published in all of Nitzan’s media channels, in the welfare departments, and in initiated conversations with parents, whose children were diagnosed at the Nitzan center and branches. To date, more than 300 parents have used the service.
E.C.C Parent Training
We continued to provide parents with training service, while noting and referring to the new challenges following the Corona Crisis, remote learning, return to routine, and their implications for the child and the entire family. The training is led by the team of counsellors who have been trained and certified by us over the years, and receive ongoing supervision throughout the year.
Additionally, we have trained a selected group of women professionals from the Ethiopian community in a Program that qualifies them for Parent Training. These professionals will work primarily in the Ethiopian community, as they are familiar with the community’s familial and cultural upbringing and lifestyle. They understand the parents’ difficulty in dealing with children who were already born in Israel.
As you can see Nitzan is answering and addressing the needs of the Israeli population with learning disabilities and ADHD, enabling them to realize their potential and become contributing members of society. Thus, their families can also achieve a quality of life that they would otherwise not have.
