TEL AVIV – In an unprecedented show of cross-sector collaboration, ICAR Collective, Israel’s nonprofit coordinating body working to accelerate trauma recovery and advance mental health resilience, convened more than 500 decision makers and professionals from across Israel’s trauma, resilience and mental health ecosystem to address a critical national challenge in the wake of the October 7 attacks and the wars that followed.
The gathering brought together representatives from over 170 organizations, including nonprofits, technology and corporate organizations, philanthropic foundations and government ministries, spanning clinical care, research, academia, public systems, innovation and community-based services.
While Israel is recognized as a leader in trauma care and innovation, participants emphasized that the central challenge is not a lack of expertise or activity, but that the current system is too fragmented to effectively meet the scale and complexity of the growing national need.
Leaders outlined a shift from emergency response to long-term infrastructure, emphasizing that sustained trauma requires a fundamentally different approach than short-term crisis mobilization. This includes building coordinated governance, shared standards, integrated data systems and aligned financing mechanisms to support recovery over years, not months.
“Israel has extraordinary professionals and innovators,” said ICAR Collective co-founder and executive director Gila Tolub. “The challenge now is not capacity, but design. We need to move from emergency response to a system that is intentionally built for long-term recovery and translates commitment into sustained national impact.”
A central priority is the development of tiered, population-level care models. Leaders emphasized that only a minority of individuals will require intensive clinical intervention, while the majority can benefit from prevention, early intervention and community-based support. Strengthening frontline capacity and ensuring appropriate triage were identified as critical to preserving specialist resources and improving outcomes.
Workforce sustainability emerged as a structural constraint. Participants called for expanded trauma-informed training across professions, stronger supervision frameworks, burnout prevention and long-term national workforce planning to address persistent shortages and growing demand.
Leaders also highlighted the importance of community and relational infrastructure. Family systems, peer networks and local community frameworks were recognized as essential components of recovery, alongside formal care systems. Supporting reintegration into daily life and strengthening meaning-making processes were seen as critical for long-term resilience.
Data and research were identified as foundational to system effectiveness. Participants emphasized the need for longitudinal monitoring, shared outcome measures that extend beyond symptom reduction and alignment between research, policy and funding to enable evidence-based implementation at scale.
While fragmentation across sectors remains a barrier, the discussion focused on building the connective infrastructure such as shared language, coordinated pathways and interoperable systems which are required to enable continuity of care and reduce inequities in access.
Finally, leaders underscored that innovation must be integrated thoughtfully into the system. Digital tools, emerging technologies and novel therapeutic approaches should complement, not replace, evidence-based care, and must be deployed within coordinated pathways with appropriate ethical and regulatory safeguards.
“A national response to trauma must be structured, not improvised,” said ICAR Collective co-founder and director of medical and scientific affairs Prof. Eyal Fruchter. “This means tiered care models, a protected and well-trained workforce and the responsible integration of innovation. Without this foundation, even strong interventions cannot deliver outcomes at scale.”