Israeli trauma specialist Renana Danon is leading a U.S. speaking tour that includes a stop in Metro Detroit at the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s free lunch-and-learn event on Sunday, Nov. 3.

Held at Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield, “Overcoming Trauma: Israeli Youth Mental Health Post 10/7” is open to the community and anyone interested in learning more about how the ongoing crisis is impacting the mental health of Israeli teens.

Danon, who serves as ELEM’s assistant director of clinical training, will share the critical work that the Israeli nonprofit is doing to support at-risk youth by providing mental health and trauma care. Danon oversees employee training and develops specialized training sessions to ensure all staff are equipped with the knowledge and tools to respond to these challenges.

Dr. Tracey Stulberg, a Birmingham-based therapist, will also be speaking.

ELEM serves more than 12,500 youth annually, addressing issues such as domestic violence, substance abuse, neglect, bullying, homelessness and prostitution. The organization helps care for and reintegrate youth into their communities through counseling, mentorship and job training.

“The mental state of Israelis, and especially Israeli youth, is very uneasy these days,” Danon says. “The situation is so dynamic that a weekend can completely change everything. Teens need a steady routine and a safe environment to grow in — right now, they are mostly faced with uncertainty, real physical danger, and traumatizing stories and images.”

Israel’s Youth Mental Health Crisis

A staggering ELEM impact report completed in July 2024, six months after the Hamas attack, found the majority of Israeli youth are experiencing trauma-related conditions.

The eye-opening report also discovered that 30% of the approximately 150,000 people evacuated from their homes because of the ongoing conflict are teens and young adults.

Data obtained from youth evacuation centers that partner with ELEM show that more than 50% of displaced youth are dropping out of traditional school, family and social frameworks. Of that group, 47% started consuming drugs and alcohol at what ELEM calls “alarming” rates.

Several factors are at play in Israel’s growing youth mental health crisis. Direct trauma, exposure to harmful online content, interrupted lives and destabilized family units are only a few contributors of many that are harming the mental health of Israel’s youngest generations.

Among 200 surveyed teens, a shocking 87% experienced loneliness, depression and anxiety. Another 64% felt absence of family support, while 56% experienced poverty and hunger.

Still, the news isn’t all bad. ELEM found some improvement in Israeli youth mental health compared to the first quarter initially following the war. The organization says this can be attributed to direct assistance programs, robust communities and moves to permanent housing.

Initiatives operated by ELEM, like Breathing Spaces in schools (which were established to take care of teens and young adults exposed to direct and indirect trauma) help reduce the impact.

These Breathing Spaces are informal mental health spaces that support youth evacuated from the Gaza perimeter and the North of Israel, which is the closest to Lebanon.

In total, 2,504 teens in distress have reached out to ELEM’s WhatsApp and other chat mental health support options as of July 2024. It’s a crisis experts are calling crucial to address.

Standing in Solidarity

Sharing knowledge and information about Israel’s youth mental health crisis and ongoing efforts like those initiated by ELEM help draw global awareness to this growing issue.

At Federation’s Israel & Overseas free lunch-and-learn event on Nov. 3, guests will hear firsthand about the impact that the war has had — and continues to have — on Israeli youth.

Danon will share firsthand accounts of ELEM’s work on the ground, challenges faced by youth in Israel and methods being employed to provide continuous care as the situation evolves.

“The Detroit lunch-and-learn will be a very interesting event for anyone interested in the efforts to support youth in this awful war,” Danon says.

“We will be discussing the mental health state of teens in Israel and how this national trauma affects youth. We will also be talking about the strategies we use to aid and protect youth in trauma situations.”

There will also be a Q&A session so guests can learn more about the many invisible scars that Israeli youth impacted by the war are shouldering.

“In this past year, since the national disaster of Oct. 7, so many Israeli teens have joined the cycle of trauma, loss and pain,” says Lior Zisser-Yogev, who serves as the community’s shlichah through Jewish Federation of Detroit.

“We witnessed how civil society, especially mental health care organizations, became a central part of the treatment and rehabilitation of Israeli society.

“That is why we are so grateful for the opportunity to host Renana Danon here in Detroit, and to hear firsthand about the important work that ELEM does in Israel,” she adds. “And to share stories of overcoming trauma and how Jewish Detroit helped support these efforts.”