Only Together Can We Tackle the Mental Health Crisis
What's the problem?
Since October 7th, there is no Israeli who has not been exposed to trauma. The number of newly diagnosed PTSD cases in HMOs nearly doubled, from 16,234 in 2022 to 30,760 in 2024. The number of wounded IDF veterans coping with mental health conditions has doubled, and about half a million Israelis are expected to suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress and anxiety. The biggest wave is yet to come.
This crisis has met a system that is unprepared – one that treats too late, too little, and in too fragmented a way. The average wait for mental health treatment through a health fund is 6.4 months, and 38% of those in need give up because of the wait. Israel has less than half the desired rate of psychiatrists, 23% of psychologist positions in the inpatient system are unfilled, and more than 2,500 educational psychologist positions are vacant.
There is no single clear responsible body, and those who need treatment are tossed between 3 to 5 different bodies: HMOs, the Resilience Center, the National Insurance Institute, the IDF, the local authority, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Education. In the end, those in need carry the weight of trauma and their struggles alone and are left without a solution.
The cost is not only human. Untreated trauma is expected to cost the Israeli economy about 500 billion NIS over the next five years: about 200 NIS billion in direct costs, and another 300 billion NIS in indirect costs.
What's the solution?
Together, we will build a national response that is coordinated, high-quality, and proactive to Israel’s unique mental health challenge, providing multi-tiered care from prevention through clinical treatment.
We will remove the stigma: we will give national legitimacy to the challenges affecting hundreds of thousands of Israelis. We will recognize these challenges, embrace those facing them, and provide care. We will act on the principle of “prevention first” and move from reaction to initiative, through early detection and initial support in every setting of life: in the community, in education, in service, in academia, and at work.
We will build tiered treatment mechanisms matched to the severity of the injury, from support groups and parent guidance to psychotherapy and psychiatric care. And we will make sure no one falls through the cracks. That no person who is hurt will be left without help through a broader, more coordinated, and multi-tiered mental health system.
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B'Yachad's plan
01
We will have early detection and build a supportive community
In workplaces, we will require every organization to appoint a “Resilience Officer,” like the officer responsible for preventing sexual harassment, who will provide tools and training for managers. We will also give employers incentives to identify and support employees in need. In local authorities, we will run an early-detection and intervention program to strengthen community resilience, alongside individual, family, and couples’ resilience. In military service, we will shift from waiting for people to come forward to proactive outreach, contacting every soldier and reservist at fixed points in their service. And for the public as a whole, we will launch a national campaign that makes it legitimate to ask for help and offers tools for self-care.
02
We will strengthen emotional support in the education system – from early childhood through academia
We will run programs to strengthen emotional resilience from birth to age 18, and train all educational staff in trauma-informed practice: recognizing changes in behavior, responding sensitively, and creating safety, belonging and stability in the classroom. We will strengthen emotional support in schools. Today, about a quarter of educational psychologist positions are unfilled. We will fill them all and expand the number of psychologist and counselor positions through binding staffing standards at every stage of education. In early childhood, we will link Tipat Halav, child development services, local authorities, and the education system, so that difficulties are detected early and addressed in time, with parental consent.
03
We will strengthen clinical care and shorten the wait for treatment
We cannot treat hundreds of thousands of people without professionals. We will put into place national planning as well as prioritization of the mental health workforce. We will shorten psychologist training. We will bring more professionals into the field through scholarships for young psychologists and for students of psychology and social work. We will provide incentives to increase employment in the public system, along with a comprehensive benefits package for those who go to work in the periphery. We will establish a new profession, a“resilience coach,” to identify, support, and provide focused care for early-stage distress, working in the education system and other public systems as well.
04
We will give everyone a single address: more accessible, more comprehensive care
We will improve continuity of care and reduce bureaucracy and competition among public bodies by restructuring how responsibility is divided in the mental health system. We will formalize the “passing of the baton” between the IDF and HMOs to ensure continuity of care for reservists between rounds of service. We will institutionalize ongoing cooperation among HMO districts, local authorities, and regional clusters, based on a uniform definition of cases requiring treatment and a shared triage process.
05
We will establish a national coordinating body and anchor the plan in law
We will establish a national body that sets a uniform policy, coordinates the work plans of all bodies that provide mental health care, consolidates data into an up-to-date national picture, and oversees implementation. Public funding will be conditioned on meeting quality standards and measurable results. We will anchor this plan in law, with a dedicated annual budget and a funded five-year plan, and clarify the division of responsibility among the Ministries of Health, Welfare, and Defense, local authorities, and the health funds.
