“With the outbreak of the coronavirus, the system was fully galvanized. As always happens in an emergency, we entered a state of action. But then we discovered that all the rules had changed. Much of what we knew and recognized was no longer relevant. The first thing that disappeared was our natural workspaces. And what’s a psychologist supposed to do without a therapy room or without direct contact with the patient?
While the local authorities were still dealing with the question of whether educational psychologists are essential workers, the Bnei Brak Municipality was the first to answer in the affirmative, defining us as essential.
In trying to find solutions, we looked around at other local authorities, and it felt that we’d had a bucket of ice water dumped on our heads. We felt confused, frustrated, and even a little jealous. Zoom therapy, communicating with residents via Facebook, computers in every home… they had found solutions that we knew we could not implement due to the nature of our community.
We realized that in our community, it would have to be done differently. So we took a break for a few days to think about what we could do, and it ultimately made all the difference.
We discovered that alongside the nothingness and the prevailing uncertainty, there is a lot of ‘something’. There is knowledge and connection and communication between us and the community. And these are great starting points to work with from within a state of uncertainty.
Let’s start with what we knew about the community.
It’s a society with habits and customs and extensive infrastructure for community-based assistance, such as charities, interest-free loans, and hotlines. It was clear to us that we needed to identify and build on existing systems, rather than turning to new solutions that people could view as a threat.
We also knew that there was no digital infrastructure, on principle rather than for technical reasons. This challenged us to find another solution.
And what did we know about ourselves?
We knew we had a vision: to develop an emotional language among the children of the city in order to help them build resilience. We also knew that we had a lot of knowledge about emergency intervention and that we knew how to pay attention to what was going on in the field and build tailored responses.
And what did I know about myself?
I knew that the harder I try, the harder it is for me to develop solutions; but when I let go, it just happens.
Our biggest challenge was at the end of the first lockdown, when we had to prepare the parents and children for going back to school.
Then, one Friday morning, while I was cooking in the kitchen, I thought of Chaim Walder, a popular children’s author in the ultra-Orthodox society who writes a lot about emotions and the importance of expressing them. I know Chaim and we have collaborated in the past.
So I decided to call him and suggest an idea: to publish a booklet that prepares parents and children for a return to normal during the pandemic.
He promised to think about it, and within an hour, he called me back and we started planning what the book would look like. By Sunday morning he had already sentme a draft.
The final challenge was to find partners in the Municipality. This required stepping out of my comfort zone, but I felt a sense of urgency. I knew that the hourglass had flipped and time was running out: if the children returned to school before the booklet was released, we wouldn’t be able to prepare them properly.
So we started with the Mayor’s office, and he volunteered to write a warm introduction. We roped in entire municipal departments, dealing with crises as they arose. But while we had hoped to distribute 40,000 booklets to every child in Bnei Brak, I only received permission to print 7,000. We had to compromise and decided to first distribute the booklets to kindergartens.
The impact was enormous. All around the city, people were talking about the booklet that Chaim Walder had published with the Psychological Service. Teachers in kindergartens where the booklet had not been distributed asked to receive it. Municipal employees applied for a copy for their own children, and the booklet’s circle of influence expanded. In the end, it was decided that any care package sent to a family quarantining in the city would also include our booklet.
And so, with a bit of creative effort, we were able to lower the level of anxiety in both children and parents. We did it in a way that is unique to us: I call it ‘low-tech – high-impact’.”