2005

Association of Americans and Canadians Stress Management Workshop for New Immigrants

March 2, 2005
1st Adar כ"א, תשס"ה

To: Ms. Judy Spanglet, MSW,
Barnett Janner Child and Family Research & Training Unit
From: Miriam Green, AACI Souther Region Counselor

Subject: Stress Management Workshop for Olim

On Wednesday, February 23, 2005, I attended a very successful Stress Management Workshop for Olim lead by two professional therapists, Judy Spanglet and Meirav Tal, for a diverse group of new olim. From their reactions, I would suggest this was a wonderful way to connect olim to one another and to teach them to use their internal resouces when dealing with stressful situations connected to aliyah.

The participants were all olim in their 40s or older, all with minimal family connections here in Israel. We started by introducing ourseves, then worked on creating group dynamics through several activities. the main focus of the workshop was to recognize signs of stress in ourselves and learn to use our individual resources to copy when stressful situations arisse. The therapists employed the Somatic Experience method, a form of trauma healing.

The participants' reactions were very interesting. One woman broke down crying so strongly that one of the therapists took her out of the room to talk privately. She told the group that she was able to speak about an incident in her life that she had not shared with anyone else. Another participant was quite stressed before the start of the workshop-as I can attest to from our conversation-but said he was calm and relaxed at the end. A third found it too "warm-fujzzy." However the majority did "get" something from it. One fellow stated how good it was to meet mother people in his same situation.

The participants included a psychologist; a Registered Nurse, a mother of three, a teacher, an American born in Iran, a holocaust survivor born in Belgium and a parole officer.

I will be recommending to AACI that we apply for grant money for this program for 2006. While it may not be appropirate for our more entralized regions, new olim in the South-and perhaps the North-can benefit from this workshop as a way to bring together disparate people with common isolation in a new culture. This project offered a significan tool to new olim.

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