On the day that Israel, father of five-year-old Gaya, first arrived at our Home Within the Heart program, he was still limping from the injuries he sustained defending his kibbutz on October 7. Gaya, who had once been inseparable from her father, now avoided his gaze and clung only to her mother. Israel, devastated by her distance, felt that he had fought through hell to return home – only to find himself a stranger to the daughter he loved most.

Through the structured, nurturing environment of the Home Within the Heart group, the two began to reconnect slowly. In one of the final sessions, Israel wept. “The group helped me get my daughter back,” he said. “I cannot thank you enough.”

Another father, Avi, returned from months of reserve duty to find his four-year-old daughter, Shir, quiet and withdrawn. She had seemed happy to see him but said little. That changed during a session in which the facilitator shared a story about a dragon. Suddenly, Shir turned to her father and said, “Daddy, I was afraid you were going to die.”

Avi was stunned. He had no idea his young daughter understood the dangers he had faced. But that moment of honesty became a turning point. With gentle support from the group’s facilitator, Avi and Shir began to have a raw and open conversation. “It was the first time I realized how much she was holding inside,” he said.

Since October 7, Israel has been grappling with one of the most profound mental health crises in its history. The trauma inflicted by the attacks has led to a significant increase in psychological distress across the nation.

People crying and hugging with the Israeli flag in the background (credit: DALL-E, AI)
People crying and hugging with the Israeli flag in the background (credit: DALL-E, AI)
More than 250,000 Israelis were internally displaced, either voluntarily or following government orders, affecting families in both the northern and southern regions of Israel. Internally displaced populations often experience economic instability, loss of social support, and exposure to violence and trauma, all of which lead to a significantly higher risk of mental health issues such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

The psychological impact of the conflict

As the war raged on, the Israeli army estimates that one-third of the 10,000 soldiers treated in its rehabilitation centers have been diagnosed with PTSD or similar mental health conditions. For parents at home, our own study found that younger parents struggle the most and experience a significant decline in parental efficacy under conditions of high war exposure.

These statistics highlight the extensive psychological impact of the conflict, underscoring the need for comprehensive mental health support.

While media attention often focuses on the physical destruction of war, the emotional toll is no less devastating. It’s hardest on children, who often cannot find the words to express what they’re feeling and are left to navigate trauma on their own.

As psychologists and researchers focused on child development and trauma, we knew that a different kind of intervention was urgently needed – one that would strengthen, rather than separate, the parent-child bond.

That’s why we created Home Within the Heart, a University of Haifa initiative grounded in our commitment to rebuild and restore Israel’s North following the devastation of the Israel-Hamas War. Instead of addressing trauma as an individual experience, we focus on the parent-child relationship as the most powerful source of healing.

In small, guided groups of six parent-child pairs, our program offers a safe space for children to process their feelings while being anchored in the presence of their caregiver. The name Home Within the Heart reflects our central belief: When homes are lost or unsafe, when daily life becomes unpredictable, children need to know there is still one place they can turn for safety – the emotional presence of a calm, responsive parent. But for parents who are themselves traumatized, this can feel almost impossible.

That’s where trained mental health professionals come in.

Giving caregivers tools to meet children's needs

Working in partnership with local municipalities and other frontline agencies, the University of Haifa has brought this model to families across Israel, especially in the northern communities most affected by evacuations, sirens, and threats of escalation. In every setting, the results have been deeply moving.

Sometimes the path is slow. One five-year-old boy, Eitan, refused to join any of the group’s activities in the first sessions. His father, Gidi, stayed patiently by his side, unsure whether the program was helping. But by the third session, Eitan was singing with the other children – and by the last, he was carrying his crocheted therapy bunny everywhere, sleeping with it under his pillow and reading aloud from the workbook he and his father had filled out together.

With support, parents learn to talk about difficult topics in an age-appropriate, emotionally attuned way, giving them the language and context they need to navigate this complex phenomenon.

We’ve seen how children flourish when their caregivers are given the tools and emotional capacity to meet their needs. And we’ve seen how parents, who so often arrive overwhelmed, emotionally numb, or ashamed of their own fragility, begin to thaw, reconnect, and heal themselves.

One mother, Galit, joined the program with her daughter Avia after months of displacement. She told us she felt emotionally frozen: “I felt like I was behind a screen, unable to reach my own child.” But by the end of the group, she said something we will never forget: “Now, when I tell my daughter I love her, I actually feel it. I thought I had lost that. I thought the war had taken my daughter away from me, but you gave her back to me.”

At a time when Israel is facing one of the greatest mental health crises in its history, we must invest in interventions that recognize the full scope of trauma – interventions that treat the home, the heart, and the human bond as sites of healing.

Home Within the Heart is not just a program. It is a model for national recovery – rebuilding resilience in Israel’s North and beyond, from the inside out: one parent, one child, one story at a time.

Dr. Yael Enav and Dr. Yael Mayer are clinical psychologists and senior faculty members at the University of Haifa’s School of Therapy, Counseling and Human Development.