The National School for Training in Rehabilitation and Recovery in Mental Health was established in 2011 at Ono Academic College and operates under the supervision and funding of the Mental Health Division of the Ministry of Health. The school holds courses and training for various rehabilitation professionals, who deal with the field of mental health (patients and family members, medical, rehabilitation and care professionals, etc.) in order to promote the professional quality of the employees. At the basis of the school’s learning is the belief in the ability of the person with the psychiatric disability to heal, integrate and live a meaningful life in his or her community. At the basis of the rehabilitation work is the perception that continuous learning, updating and knowledge is the core of the project. Therefore, in addition to the courses and training, the school deals with the promotion, expansion and marketing of the subject of rehabilitation in mental health in Israel and around the world. The school maintains an active library on the subject and also deals with monitoring, evaluation and feedback on the various existing training programs.
The school’s raison d’etre is instilling the values of rehabilitation, integration and recovery. It builds, develops and promotes training and learning processes transferring knowledge, values, perceptions and skills in the field of mental health rehabilitation. Its work implements recovery-promoting interventions for the patients, families, professionals and rehabilitation workers. To this end, the school maintains collaborations with a wide range of institutions, including higher education programs in Israel and around the world, and bodies that support rehabilitation and recovery. The school will expand its collaborations in the coming years.
In recent years, the school’s activities focused on multiculturalism. It held special courses and workshops for Arab society and the ultra-Orthodox sector. Also, starting this year, the school has set itself the goal of expanding the ranks of learners from the mental health treatment system.
The entire therapeutic-rehabilitative community is required during this period to create orderly work interfaces, communication and mutual learning in order to pool resources, improve and enable, promote and establish processes of treatment, rehabilitation, integration and recovery of the person dealing with mental disability and his or her family members.
As part of a policy based on the principles of the care-rehabilitation continuum, we believe that the values, approaches and professional tools should be the common domain of: service consumers, professionals, and family members.
The school conducts the various studies and trainings in several areas of the country: at Ono Academic College, at its northern campus in Haifa, at its southern campus in Beer Sheva. Also, as needed, courses are also given elsewhere in the country.
As stated, in light of the importance that the School of Rehabilitation, the therapeutic-rehabilitation continuum and the promotion of dialogue between the community rehabilitation system and the treatment system, professional workers from the treatment system (hospitals, mental health clinics and HMOs) are invited to join the courses, based on availability. In some situations, 70% of course costs are subsidized.
In the years 2011-2018, the school held courses and workshops in which more than 4,000 students studied, including people from the various professions involved in professional rehabilitation, consumers, families and workers from the treatment system – hospitals and mental health clinics.
In addition, courses were held in collaboration with JDC Israel, with the community centers, with Clalit Health Fund and more.
We see compatible and up-to-date training of professionals engaged in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation as a necessary condition for the provision of quality and effective services. The National School of Rehabilitation Training Integration and recovery in mental health serves as a value-based, perceptual, theoretical and applied basis for the training and guidance of professionals as mental health rehabilitation professionals and thus provides a foundation for promoting and improving service quality, for the well-being of the person with mental disability and family members.
Management of the National School for Rehabilitation, Integration and Recovery in Mental Health:
Headquarters of the Rehabilitation Division, Mental Health Division, Ministry of Health: