"Safe Harbor" is an academic, training, documentary and research organization, whose goal is to provide information, guidance, professional training and support for caregivers and professionals who are in contact with all circles of harm: the families of the living and deceased abductees, the returnees and repatriates from captivity, the immediate community and the public.

 

The center is managed by Dr. Einat Yehene , a senior faculty member at the School of Behavioral Sciences at Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College, who also led the rehabilitation field in the health system of the Abductees' Families Headquarters. The center's activities are currently supported by a generous anonymous philanthropic donation.

 

The center was established in February 2024 thanks to the generous contribution of the Jewish Federation of San Francisco , which was tasked with the mission following the kidnapping and captivity of 251 men and women – from infants to the elderly – in the Hamas attack on the morning of October 7, 2023. The center operated in its first period as an emergency response that focused on providing the professional community with tools to support and care for the families of the kidnapped and survivors of captivity, led by a founding team - Galit Itzhaki Dreizin and Prof. Sharon Ziv Beiman.

 

Today, the center focuses on the long-term challenges of living in the shadow of the trauma of kidnapping and its various derivatives, and on the work of rehabilitation of the circles of harm, alongside support for professionals. Our activities are now dedicated to continuing to develop the field of therapeutic and theoretical knowledge in victims of kidnapping and ambiguous loss, and to formulating protocols and models for treatment and rehabilitation based on the clinical and research knowledge accumulated in the field, with the aim of assimilating this knowledge and ensuring a continuous professional response.

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