Metiv: The Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma

Metiv operates at 4 Rehov HaSadna, Talpiot, Jerusalem, and is affiliated with Herzog Hospital, also known as Herzog Medical Center.[1][2] An Israeli government guide lists both the "Meitiv-Herzog Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma" and the "Metiv Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma" at the same address and telephone number.[1] Academic publications identify Daniel Brom as director of the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma at Herzog Hospital and also use the name Israel Psychotrauma Institute.[2][3] News reports use Metiv: The Israel Psychotrauma Center and, in an earlier account, the Temmy and Albert Latner Israel Center for Treatment of Psychotrauma.[4][5] English-language records use the spellings Metiv and Meitiv, while Hebrew-language reporting also renders the name as Mativ.[1][6]

The center provides immediate crisis intervention, ongoing trauma therapy, and PTSD treatment for children and adults, including discharged combat soldiers.[1] Its broader work includes individual and community-resilience programs, research, professional training and accreditation, and resources for parents and teachers helping children cope with trauma.[5][7] The government's public resource guide lists it among services for people seeking mental-health and trauma assistance.[1]

A March 2024 profile states that Prof. Danny Brom established Metiv in 1986 after immigrating to Israel from Holland.[8] Other reporting identifies him as the center's founding director.[5] By 2024, Metiv was described as having spent approximately 30 years leading the research, development, and implementation of trauma-treatment methods in Israel.[5]

A pivotal moment in the center's institutional growth came in early 2001, when UJA-Federation of New York provided a $200,000 grant to the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma to establish a national trauma-treatment network.[9] The grant required the recipient to participate actively in the resulting coalition and maintain collaborative relationships with its partners.[9] ICTP was one of seven founding members of the Israel Trauma Coalition; the others were Selah: Israel Crisis Management Center; ERAN: National Emergency Hotline; Amcha: Center for Psychosocial Support of Survivors of the Holocaust and the Second Generation; Beit Loewenstein Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adolescents; Community Stress Prevention Center; and Natal: Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War.[9]

By 2010, the coalition had grown from seven founders into a collaboration involving more than 50 organizations, government ministries, local agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.[9] It reported managing more than 200 initiatives across direct care, team training, and community preparedness, with combined budgets of $25 million.[9] Metiv's place among the coalition's founders reinforced its role in Israel's developing trauma-response network.

Following the second intifada, Metiv established a walk-in crisis clinic in Jerusalem with seed funding from UJA-Federation of New York.[10] The clinic initially treated people shaken by terrorist attacks and later broadened its caseload to include survivors of road accidents and others suffering significant psychological trauma with little or no physical injury.[10] At the time of the report, it had four full-time staff in addition to its clinical-services director, fifteen freelance therapists, approximately 300 clients per year, and around 100 people in treatment at any one time.[10]

Metiv provides therapy to adults and children exposed to traumatic experiences, including army veterans, survivors of terrorist attacks, and survivors of childhood abuse and neglect.[5] Its research program develops and evaluates evidence-based approaches to trauma treatment.[7]

An earlier Jerusalem Post report identified Dr. Ruth Pat-Horenczyk as director of child and adolescent services.[4] Her work with colleagues at Metiv supports guidance emphasizing calm, honest communication with children following traumatic events.[11] The center advises that play and playfulness can serve as protective factors against depression, anxiety, and panic and can help children create meaning after trauma.[11] It has also produced resources for parents and other adults helping children cope with traumatic experiences.[11]

The center's professional staff, reported as numbering around 30 during the October 2023 crisis, addresses a wide spectrum of trauma presentations.[12] Metiv psychologist Alon Valtman has explained that PTSD can cause difficult combat experiences to continue interfering with daily functioning. He also noted that most soldiers exposed to disturbing events do not develop PTSD, although many who struggle remain unsupported and cope alone.[13]

Metiv research director Anna Harwood-Gross wrote that the center began a study of MDMA-assisted therapy for Israeli military veterans with PTSD in March 2024, following approximately two years of development.[7] The study compares MDMA-assisted treatment with an intensive therapy course incorporating somatic experiencing and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. It examines which mechanisms are effective, for whom, and the positive and negative outcomes of intensive treatment rather than treating MDMA as a universal solution.[7]

One of Metiv's most distinctive contributions is the Peace of Mind program for combat veterans who served for at least three years in units exposed to significant risks and difficult combat conditions.[6] Later reporting also uses the Hebrew name Mas'a Shichrur, translated as Release Journey, for Metiv's unit-based veterans program.[14] The model was developed by Prof. Brom and Dr. Pat-Horenczyk and combines short-term group therapy with outdoor adventure therapy, including support for soldiers who experienced significant stress or fear without receiving a formal PTSD diagnosis.[4]

A 2012 description said that participants began with two workshop days in Israel, followed by a week abroad in which 15 to 17 veterans from the same unit visited a Jewish community.[6] Host synagogues organized donations, community activities, and host families, while Metiv professionals conducted group therapy during the visit.[6] Participants then completed two additional workshop days about a month after returning to Israel, followed by individual therapy when needed. At that time, the program was reported as operating twice yearly, in November and May, with a different military unit in each cycle.[6]

The pilot followed the 2006 Second Lebanon War: one group of 25 elite rescue-team soldiers traveled to the Netherlands and another group of 10 went to France.[4] Reports described participants reviewing and processing combat experiences, building relationships, developing a sense of personal control, and expressing themselves in a safe atmosphere. The center's psychologists reported therapeutic benefits even among soldiers who had initially denied having emotional difficulties.[4]

By February 2024, approximately 200 groups had been hosted by Jewish communities in North America and Europe.[5] A January 2025 report said that the Israeli Ministry of Defense contributed to the program and that approximately 35 delegations had taken place during the preceding year.[14] That report followed 17 former Golani Battalion 13 soldiers as they discussed combat memories, previously undisclosed experiences, guilt, grief, and the long-term effects of military service. Metiv therapist Yoel Bar-Ilan described the concentrated experience as a psychological process of approximately six months taking place within one week.[14] The report also said that dozens of additional units were waiting to participate.[14]

In October 2023, Metiv planned 18 Peace of Mind groups for people with treatment-resistant PTSD between the following week and mid-December.[12]

Beyond direct clinical care, Metiv runs programs aimed at building resilience at the community and organizational levels. The Mativ Space program trains organizations and public-facing institutions to operate in a trauma-adapted manner.[15] Its basic format is a one-day training for managers, human-resources personnel, government offices, municipalities, and other institutions, with options for organization-specific training and longer-term implementation support. The curriculum addresses trauma and bereavement, symptom recognition, workplace behavior, service encounters, organizational barriers, and responses to distressed clients.[15]

Yoni Efrati, Metiv's manager of policy promotion and community-service development, described a trauma-adapted organization as one that understands trauma's effects on individuals and communities, creates a supportive and safe environment, provides adapted services, builds trust with employees and customers, and seeks to reduce employee burnout and secondary trauma.[15]

Metiv has provided training and accreditation in trauma treatment to thousands of therapists in Israel and internationally.[5] Prof. Brom and Professor Mooli Lahad also presented advanced behavioral-disaster intervention models to a New York behavioral-health provider, which reported that their principles influenced its approach to community resilience, staff training, and the integration of clinical mental-health practice with public-health outreach.[3]

After Brom lectured to the Ukrainian Psychoanalytic Institute, Metiv invited 20 Ukrainian psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists to a three-week Jerusalem course focused on war-related trauma.[16] The first two weeks were held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the final week based at Metiv on the Herzog Medical Center campus. The course addressed trauma treatment while also giving participating professionals an opportunity to process their own wartime experiences.[16]

Between 2005 and 2006, the center—listed as the "Israel Center for Treatment of Psychotrauma of Herzog Hospital"—partnered with the Center for Development in Primary Health Care at Al Quds University and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in the Child Rehabilitation Initiative for Safety and Hope (CHERISH): Community and Family Initiative.[17] The project received European Commission funding of €278,327, representing 80 percent of eligible costs, and operated for 18 months in Israel, the West Bank—known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria—and Gaza. It sought to assist Israeli and Palestinian children exposed to widespread traumatic events, with an emphasis on professional care and PTSD intervention.[17]

The psychological and scientific components and distribution methods of Artists 4 Israel's Healing Arts Kits were endorsed by the Herzog Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma and the Israel Trauma Coalition.[18] The kits were designed as an immediate intervention intended to prevent new cases of PTSD and were used by United Hatzalah responders. One published account described a frightened and injured child who began to calm after a medic offered a kit, allowing the responder to approach and begin physical care.[18]

The Israel Trauma Coalition, which Metiv helped found, developed strategic relationships with government ministries, nonprofit organizations, and international bodies including the United Nations and the World Health Organization.[9] These relationships placed Metiv within a broader network connecting clinical trauma care, community preparedness, and international disaster-mental-health work.

The Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, and the war that followed produced an acute surge in demand for Metiv's services. By March 2024, demand was reported to have quadrupled since the attack.[8] The center's professional staff of approximately 30 faced a tremendous overflow of calls and devoted particular attention to parents' interactions with traumatized children. It also began expanding supervision for therapists working in other organizations.[12]

In October 2023, Metiv planned 18 Peace of Mind groups for people with treatment-resistant PTSD.[12] A separate 2025 report said that Metiv had opened a specialty clinic within the Defense Ministry rehabilitation department. The clinic was described as chronically overwhelmed by referrals, with approximately 300 people receiving treatment at any given time.[19]

Sources use a wide range of institutional names. An Israeli government guide lists both the Meitiv-Herzog Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma and the Metiv Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma.[1] Academic publications use Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma and Israel Psychotrauma Institute.[2][3] News reports use Metiv: The Israel Psychotrauma Center and the Temmy and Albert Latner Israel Center for Treatment of Psychotrauma.[4][5]

The available sources do not fully explain whether these variations represent formal renamings, donor recognition, departments within a larger institution, or informal usage. A verified March 2024 profile dates Brom's establishment of Metiv to 1986.[8] Despite the naming variations, the sources consistently connect the center with Brom, trauma treatment, and Herzog Hospital or Herzog Medical Center.