We at Together Beyond Words are asking you to join us in providing support for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities within Israel, Palestine and other parts of the world during and following the tumultuous period of COVID19 through zoom spaces for small groups where participants can connect, feel and heal.

From the middle of April to the beginning of May we ran a “Safe Havens” pilot program. It was immensely successful or in the words of one of the participants:

“Sometimes when my heart is so full with gratitude, words just don’t come out. Or at least not in the way I would like them to. Our facilitator guided us with grace, through all the complex days, managed to connect us, a group of women, who did not know each other, with great sensitivity and let the tears and the injured hearts tell their story. On a personal note, the days of the Corona left me jobless. Fear and despair slowly began to seep into me. My facilitator lit the creative fire in me once again, restored my courage and hope and gave me strength to reinvent myself. Thank you seems like a really small word.  Within my gratitude is a feeling of grace, love and great giving. I am so sad it ended and grateful for what it was. ♥ ️–Dina

The work of Together Beyond Words is based on the premise that tension, anger, fear and other emotions affect our behavior towards ourselves and others. In other words, pain that is not transformed is transmitted.

This process is exacerbated by crisis situations such as the COVID -19 epidemic and the economic threat, with the added factor of being quarantined or needing to wear masks and having less opportunities to vent, hug, release tension and renew our energies.

To support vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, our facilitators will create safe compassionate zoom spaces for small groups where participants can feel everything that is coming up for them during this time and receive emotional support as well as tools to deal with daily triggers through listening partnerships and other methods. We have learned that expressing and releasing emotional pain and discomfort, experienced in daily life in a safe way, helps participants become calmer and gain clarity as well as feel more compassion towards themselves and others.

The organization’s experience of working with diverse populations on deep emotional issues related to the Israeli Palestinian conflict provides us with a good basis for dealing with feelings of anxiety, stress and insecurity that so many people are experiencing at this time. Our objectives are that:

1.      Ten of our facilitators will create 60 Zoom support groups (six groups per facilitator) with eight participants per group (480 total) for vulnerable and disadvantaged adults.

2.      Each group will meet during a period of six weeks for two hours per week

3.      Group members will support one another between meetings via phone calls and WhatsApp.

4.      Groups will focus on improving resilience and well-being of participants and their families by learning tools that help in relieving tensions, anxiety, and safely releasing anger as well as increasing emotional intelligence measures such as: flexibility, stress tolerance, optimism and empathy.

5.      Participants will use the tools on a daily basis and share them with their family, work colleagues and friends.

6. As part of our efforts for Tikkun Olam, six of the groups will be held in English so that people around the world can  join, learn  the way we are working here and apply it in their own countries.

And one more testimonial…

“I was privileged to participate in a Playback Zoom workshop hosted by Efrat Ashiri, with a group of wonderful women from around the country. I did not know until the virtual Zoom meeting, but the atmosphere of openness and acceptance that I sensed in the group from the first moment soon thawed all the partitions. In the difficult days that we went through during the Corona, I received once a week a group hug, support, feedback, holding and listening. The group was a place where we could honestly and openly share the experiences we were going through and receive attentive and sensitive listening. I was able to see my hardships from a broader perspective and reconnect with the strength within me. Efrat’s guidance, creativity, compassion, and acceptance were for me the model that I then used with my family and adolescent children. It was a difficult time, because we were sick ourselves with COVID 19, and at home for two full months, with no coming or going, and all the complexity involved. During this time, the group was an immense source of strength for me. Thank you very much to everyone who gave me this gift! I really hope we can continue.” –Leah