NATAL in the Field: Mobile Unit

NATAl plays a very active role in the field. With licensed therapists, administrators, and volunteers stationed throughout the field and working for the helpline, the goal of the organization, to always be available to those in need has never failed. The mobile unit of NATAL works in conflict zones helping hundreds of victims each year who suffer from varying levels of PTSD including those who are scared to leave their home. The unit goes into these dangerous places and provides first aid care and psychological treatments to ensure a safer more stable environment for one living in these war-stricken locations. The treatments occur at the home in six to eight sessions and include different types of therapy: one-on-one therapy, family therapy, breathing and relaxation techniques or bio-feedback. After these treatments the patients either can work more extensively with NATAL's clinical staff, be referred to an outside organization, or in the best case scenario their symptoms are more or less cured. The Pillar of Defense in November 2012 was the highest usage of the mobile unit since the second Lebanon War and NATAL pulled together their resources to be there for anyone who reached out for the organizations help. I found my research on the mobile unit to be extremely intriguing. The mobile unit reaches out to those in need and the therapists working in these zones put themselves into risky situations. The fact that they are willing to put their necks on the line show the unique character of NATAL as well as the family-like environment in Israel in general, that everyone is each others brother or sister, and are willing to be there when called for. The mobile unit shows the courageousness of the therapists who go out there each and everyday in order to make the life of their fellow citizens easier to cope with in terms of the hard realities present in Israel because of the Arab-Israeli conflict.