The family and marital lives of many have been severely shaken, facing and continuing to face difficult challenges following the events of 10/7/2001 and the long war that followed. The long reserve service created a great functional and mental burden on many marital systems. The difficult and traumatic experiences that soldiers and reservists experienced and with which they returned home resonate in marital and family systems and affect them.

In the meeting, we will ask to speak with Prof. Rachel Dekel and Dr. Ron Nissim about the effects of ongoing trauma on relationships and about tools and resources for couples to deal with them. This is inspired by the chapter they wrote for the book "Between the Fragments: Trauma, Coping, and Hope": Returning to Connection: Four Dimensions of Hope for Relationships After Exposure to Terrorist Events and War.

In the chapter, Dr. Ron Nissim and Prof. Rachel Dekel examine the effects of the traumatic events to which combatants and civilians were exposed on their relationships, as well as the potential inherent in this relationship for recovery . Based on this, the authors propose a model for relationship interventions based on four dimensions of relationships : the dimension of security and regulation; the dimension of discourse and communication; the dimension of joint activities; and the dimension of separation between thoughts and identity.

Prof. Rachel Dekel - Social worker and full professor at the Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work. She directed the school between 2012 and 2016. For over two decades, she has researched and taught a variety of topics related to dealing with traumatic events on those directly exposed and especially on their family members. She initiated and directs the "Rifles for Recovery" project at Bar Ilan University, which develops, implements, and trains in trauma-informed family approach interventions. Prof. Dekel has over 180 publications, and she has supervised over 75 research students.

Dr. Ron Nissim - PHD, clinical psychologist, therapist and certified instructor in couple and family therapy; lecturer and instructor in the psychoanalytic couple therapy track at Tel Aviv University, at the Mifarashim Institute for Psychotherapy Research and Teaching at Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College, at the Barkai Institute for Couple and Family Therapy and the Ackerman Institute in New York; member of the founding team of the Couple Clinic for Post-Traumatic Stress at the School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University.