Animal therapy center in Sderot continues to help families heal from trauma and anxiety from Oct. 7 attack

One long-time resident of the southern town of Sderot, near the Gaza border, has not only discovered a way to relieve his own anxiety but also to help children who have lived in constant fear of rocket attacks.

Efraim Rozenfeld (52) is the father of seven, with seven grandchildren, and said his body tenses up every time he hears a jet flying overhead. Even before the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, Sderot was regularly targeted by rockets from the Gaza Strip, forcing residents to rush to shelters and wait, with bated breath, to find out if a barrage of missiles might strike nearby.

In recent years, Rozenfeld found something that helps to soothe his anxiety and has also allowed him to help children suffering from the same, or worse, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Animal Therapy. 

Rozenfeld described what it is like to live in Sderot, when rocket fire has, at times, been launched from Gaza dozens of times a day, causing anxiety and fear in all of the city’s residents, but especially the children, who feel the most defenseless.  

“It affects everyone here,” Rozenfeld says. “I feel the pressure on my body. Not just airplanes overhead – also sounds of a door slamming, a motorcycle revving, or a microphone being turned on affect me. Some people are more affected than others, but everyone here is affected. I once came to a house where the children would not leave the safe room, not even to brush their teeth.”

Rozenfeld's use of animal therapy to relieve anxiety has been widely acclaimed for its remarkable effectiveness in helping individuals reduce their stress levels, improve their emotional well-being, and foster a deeper sense of connection and comfort.

“Working with animals is a way to reach the children very quickly,” says Talia Levanon the CEO of the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC), a national trauma treatment network established in 2001, during the Second Intifada. “The rabbit trusts me to take care of him. It creates a dialogue around trust without having to say how you feel about your parents, your experiences or issues of vulnerability.”

The ITC initiated the establishment of the Sderot Animal-Assisted Therapy and Resilience Center about eight years ago, with funding from the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in the United States and JNF-Canada, to provide treatment for children and teenagers near the Gaza border who suffer from PTSD.

The center is staffed by professional therapists specializing in the area of trauma with the goal of providing children with safe, comfortable and fun ways to work through their emotional responses to trauma. Rozenfeld has worked at the center since its opening in 2016, and is one of 10 animal-assisted therapists.

“Animals can often accomplish what human beings cannot,” says Rozenfeld. “Animals are not judgmental. A child who comes in with fears or who wets his bed or has anxieties – the animal doesn’t care about any of that. The animal accepts the person for who they are.”

“Serenity comes from seemingly unexpected sources: snakes, lizards, guinea pigs, birds, and even cockroaches,” Rozenfeld explained. “Animals bring a lot of positive hormones that are calming and therapeutic. More than that, animal therapy has many layers of applications. For example, instead of talking about their own feelings, children can talk about the animals, like: ‘The guinea pig is afraid.’ The child can speak through the animal.”

“A child will say, ‘I wasn’t frightened by the red alert [warning siren] yesterday, but the rabbit really was scared’. You talk about the animal, but you’re really talking about yourself; it’s a kind of projection," said Hagar Shnell, former director of the center. “A person in survival mode doesn’t normally think of anything else but himself, but when there are emergencies, children who have come to the center are concerned about the animals.

“When they have something to look after, their symptoms are somehow reduced,” Shnell continued. “They have a ‘job,’ and being responsible for someone else means they tend to be less stressed and hysterical.”

Two decades of regular missile attacks have left many residents of Sderot in a chronic state of trauma. Even when the immediate feeling of danger passes, long-term traumatic effects remain in the form of anxiety, depression, insomnia, fear of noises, exaggerated vigilance and, especially in children, nightmares and bed-wetting.

The recent October attack has amplified levels of anxiety, as well as violent behavior. As families begin to return to their homes, less than a mile from the Gaza Strip – where the war between Israel and Hamas continues - they will continue to encounter the effects of the surprise invasion and massacre on Oct. 7, as well as the ongoing reality of the current war. They may even have to run to shelters during missile attacks, as they did before the recent onslaught.

The animal therapy shelter will continue to function as a refuge and home to those children who are so much in need of comfort. The children are met with a peaceful atmosphere, accompanied by the constant melody of the exotic songbirds in the aviaries. There is a large ecological lily pond, as well.

According to one of the therapists, the children find it very soothing to watch goldfish swim among the aquatic plants in the pool.

“Sometimes the children sit at the edge of the pool just to calm down,” says animal-assisted therapist Gillie Pragai Olswang. “They absorb the silence; it gives children who are fearful of going to different places, a feeling of security, and sometimes a way to express their feelings.”

The Sderot Animal Therapy Center recently opened a new wing, with funding from JNF-Australia (JNFA).

The Center is part of the hosen (resilience) network in Israel. The network consists of holistic health centers that provide mental health care to Israel’s diverse population, including men, women, families, new immigrants and even the large Arab Bedouin community in the southern Negev.

Each year, Hosen centers support more than 400 patients who struggle with PTSD, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. Today, this national trauma treatment network brings together over 40 non-governmental organizations working on trauma-related issues in Israel. Over the years, it has evolved into an internationally recognized leader in communal response to trauma.

The ITC runs a national program with hospitals on trauma resilience, training multidisciplinary hospital teams to work with those exposed to traumatic events and create capacity in hospitals to respond to needs that may arise for diverse populations, including Holocaust survivors, Bedouins and Ethiopian Israelis.

In the aftermath of the horrific events of Oct. 7, which many survivors are still unable to discuss, the Sderot Animal-Assisted Therapy Center will continue to host families and children in need of comfort and healing