The Department of Adolescent Psychiatry was established in 2018 to meet a real and previously unmet need — not only in Israel, but worldwide. It was the first department to offer a culturally adapted setting for young people who need hospitalisation and monitoring for mental health conditions, while allowing them to maintain the way of life in which they were raised and educated.
Part of the Mental Health Department at Mayanei Hayeshua, the department is open to the general public, fully separated by gender in accordance with halacha, and run to a high standard of religious observance.
The department treats young people with a wide range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, among others. Eating disorders are not treated here; those cases are referred to a dedicated department within the same building. As this is an open department, patients are not admitted where there is violence, aggression, or a risk of suicide.
To arrange admission, families should contact the department office and provide the required background material. This includes a medical report, documentation from the young person’s school, and a letter of application from the family. Once the referral has been received and basic suitability assessed, the young person is invited to an intake meeting with the medical and professional team, led by the department's lead psychiatrist.
We believe that high-quality, effective treatment is essential to preventing lasting harm, building a brighter outlook, and giving each young person a good quality of life. Care in the department is wide-ranging and includes meetings and conversations with the lead psychiatrist, individual therapy with a psychologist, and a variety of allied health therapies such as art therapy and music therapy.
Patients and their families also have an expert social worker available to them. The dedicated, caring nursing team completes the picture, supporting patients both on the ward and beyond — on outings around the Mayanei Hayeshua campus and its surroundings, depending on the patient’s condition, which give patients a welcome change of scenery and lift their spirits.
Thanks to this thorough, in-depth care and the close cooperation of families — which is itself essential to success — the team is able to stabilize each young person’s condition until they are ready to be discharged. The team then recommends continued treatment and monitoring, to maintain progress over time and help prevent repeat admissions.
The department runs a school under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. This educational setting is vital for school-age adolescents who would otherwise miss long periods of schooling, and it also helps maintain a healthy routine as part of recovery and rehabilitation.
After the young people wake, pray, and have breakfast, the school day begins and continues until the afternoon. The teaching staff are guided and trained by the department’s lead psychiatrist and a psychologist. During the school day, patients step out as needed for their
individual sessions, and the timetable also includes various groups — movement, art, occupational therapy, and so on — that combine learning with a therapeutic process. From the afternoon into the evening, parents and other relatives are able to visit.
The Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics at Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center serve patients from across the country.
Members of Clalit and Maccabi health funds are required to present a referral from their attending physician or family doctor. Members of Meuhedet and Leumit must provide Form 17, and patients referred by the Ministry of Defense must present a treatment authorization form.
The clinics also have arrangements with various private medical insurance providers.
In the absence of a payment authorization, patients will be charged according to the hospital’s standard rates.
Phone:
073-3398031
Email:
[email protected]
Afternoon: 16:00–17:00
Friday (During School Term):
From 13:00 until one hour before Shabbat
Friday (During School Vacation):
From 09:00 until one hour before Shabbat
