Orel Biton, 16, from Ofakim, sometimes feels as though he was born into a state of emergency. “I’ve lived here for as long as I can remember, and throughout my childhood we experienced missiles, wars, rockets, disasters, and terrorist attacks,” he says. “It feels like we were born into this. Little by little, a trauma that could have been identified from a young age began to surface in me, and after October 7, it finally erupted.” Today, he is training to become a barber, but getting there also meant confronting his trauma and connecting with ELEM’s staff.

Orel’s story is one of thousands behind ELEM’s new ambassador campaign, which works with youth and young adults at risk — from young people spending time on the streets to young adults dealing with sexual abuse and financial hardship. Under the slogan “Countless Cases – One Place to Turn to,” ELEM is calling on the public to join the effort by becoming ambassadors, making a donation, and simply paying attention to the young people around us. The campaign comes nearly three years into a period in which young people in Israel have grown up amid sirens, loss, parents serving in the reserves, and evacuations from their homes — a reality that continues to leave its mark even as systems appear to be returning to normal.

Increase in At-Risk Youth

The scale of the distress can also be seen in the numbers. ELEM’s annual impact report, published under the title “The Cracks Beneath the Surface,” is based on data collected during 2025, a year in which the organization supported approximately 15,000 youth and young adults across the country. The figures paint a troubling picture:

• 66% of the youth ELEM encountered reported using alcohol.
• 45% reported using illicit substances.
• 54% had been exposed to violence outside the home, and nearly half reported depression and anxiety.
• Among youth who had experienced a loss, 45% reported suicidal thoughts.
• 51% reported having experienced sexual harm or exploitation.
• The digital environment has also become a significant arena for harm: the report recorded a 135% increase in reports of digital harm compared with the previous year.

“The most important thing we need to understand is that the meaning of the term ‘youth at risk’ has changed,” says Tali Erez, CEO of ELEM in Israel. “We recently heard a 16-year-old girl say in the Knesset that she is afraid to stand up to a boy in her class because she is worried he might stab her. That is a statement worth paying attention to. Not because all young people are violent, but because it tells us something about their sense of safety. They have gone through nearly three years in which so many of the things that are supposed to give a child stability — routine, school, home, adults they can rely on — have been repeatedly disrupted.”

According to Erez, one consequence of recent years is that the familiar boundaries of the term “youth at risk” have become blurred. “Risk is no longer found only on the margins or only in geographic or socioeconomic peripheries. It can be in any home, any school, and any neighborhood. The gap between a teenager who is coping and one who is beginning to struggle has narrowed, which means our responsibility is to recognize the signs much earlier and start from the assumption that this isn’t only happening somewhere else — it’s happening right here, too.”

The signs themselves, she emphasizes, are not always obvious. “Distress doesn’t always look the way we imagine it will. Sometimes it’s a teenager who has dropped out of school, and sometimes it’s a girl who continues to show up in class every morning but, on the inside, has long since checked out. We have a generation that has gone through things children should never have to go through. Now more than ever, they need adults and systems that will see them, be there for them, and refuse to give up on them.”

A Year Without Routine

2025 was a year of extremes — not only was routine repeatedly disrupted, but the effects of the difficult two years that preceded it were also evident on the ground. “In 2025, we met with nearly 15,000 youth and young adults through ELEM,” the CEO explains. “What concerns us is not only the number, but the depth and complexity of the challenges. We are seeing more young people dealing with several difficulties at once — a teenager may be disconnected from a school or other framework, have no family support system, and at the same time be dealing with anxiety and severe distress.”

In response to this reality, ELEM strengthened its street outreach and digital presence. “If we wait until a teenager is officially defined as being ‘at risk,’ in many cases we have already lost valuable time,” Erez says. “We want to identify the change when it begins and be there before the crack becomes a break. We have to understand that this is the generation that will make up the backbone of the workforce in just a few years and will lead the country in the future.”

The new campaign also comes against the backdrop of a difficult financial reality for the organization. “We are in a very complex period financially and philanthropically,” Erez acknowledges, pointing to the declining priority given to youth by donors abroad, as well as Israeli companies that previously contributed but are now dealing with challenges and extraordinary changes of their own. “ELEM has worked for many years in a significant partnership with the Ministry of Welfare, which also helps fund some of our programs. It is an important partnership, but alongside public funding, approximately 35% of the organization’s budget still depends on donations. Those donations allow us to expand our services, reach more young people, and respond to new needs emerging in the field.”

“In the Past Three Years, I Haven’t Missed a Single Case”

Niv Malul encounters these figures and statistics every day on the ground. Malul manages ELEM’s holistic program in Ofakim, which opened almost immediately after October 7. “I’m very close to what’s happening on the ground,” he says. “After several very difficult years, our day-to-day work is not easy. The most prominent issue is the post-traumatic stress that has followed everything that happened here. Many young people talk about loss, pain, and the terrorists who were in the neighborhood, and many also know people who were killed in Ofakim.”

His work takes place in two different settings: “We have two projects — one inside the school, called ‘In-School Breathing Space,’ and the other is our Outreach Vans. I’m present in both settings several times a week, so I see the young people during the day at school and at night on the streets. Every night I can meet 30 to 40 young people.”

That contact, he says, makes it possible to see the range of challenges up close. “It’s an authentic encounter in the field,” he says, “where you meet these situations face-to-face — problems at home, dropping out of school or other frameworks, self-harm, substance use, sexual harm. In the past three years, I haven’t missed a single case.”

One moment that stayed with him happened about a year ago. One of the volunteers who works with Malul came to him after overhearing a conversation between two teenage boys. Both had lost parents — one had lost his father and brother on October 7, and the other had lost his mother. “A conversation of brotherhood, sharing, and pain developed between them,” he recalls. “The conversation was so deep between these two boys, 14 and 15, who simply understood each other through their shared experience of loss.”

“They Understand That We’re Part of Their Lives”

Malul explains that working across multiple settings is an important part of building relationships with young people: “We provide a holistic and very broad response because we see the teenager at school, in the afternoon, and at night. When they see us in different areas of their lives, they understand that we are an integral part of their lives, and that makes them trust us more and work with us.”

Ahead of the campaign, Malul’s message to the public is simple: “I want the public to understand that we have amazing young people who have experienced six or seven years of very significant hardship — constant wars, COVID, social disconnection. If we invest in young people and are there for them during the most challenging period of their lives, they are the future of our country. It’s really that simple.”

“It Gave Me the Confidence to Feel That I Could Tell Him Anything”

Orel himself says that during the difficult years he went through, he was able to find several sources of stability. “Some of the things that helped me the most, and still help me today, are music, my vocational studies, my family, and Niv, who helped me understand so much about all of this and about myself.”

His connection with ELEM’s staff didn’t begin with a conversation right away. “ELEM is a group of people with hearts of gold. I ran into them so many times that eventually I worked up the courage to approach them. From there, we developed a really good relationship, and Niv is truly someone I look up to — he gave me the confidence and the feeling that I could tell him anything.”

Orel especially remembers one conversation with Malul: “I told Niv that I wanted to get a motorcycle license, and he said something that really stuck with me: ‘I’m not going to tell you why you shouldn’t, but I’ll let you think about it yourself, so you understand how dangerous it is.’ For the first time in my life, someone close to me didn’t tell me no. He let me think about it for myself.” Then he adds with a smile: “Spoiler — I gave it up.”

If he could speak today to the child he once was — the boy who was afraid to approach ELEM representatives — he knows exactly what he would say: “Run to them as fast as you can, because this place is going to give you so many values, ways of thinking, and the ability to have conversations that are open and on a high level. They protect you and look out for you.”