History

Late 60s

 In the United States, an innovative treatment was developing and attracting much interest: Family Systems Therapy. The family was seen as an organized, interdependent system, regulated by a set of norms and rules. Therapeutic intervention was directed to the system as a whole and/or to any of the various sub-systems: parents, siblings, parent-child, grandparent-parent, etc. In Israel, there were no agencies offering family therapy and no centers teaching the new approach.

1970s

1970 A small group of therapists in Jerusalem, each member holding senior positions in academia and in the public sector, began meeting. Their goal was to develop programs that would make family therapy available to the general population.

February 24,1971 Their discussions gave birth to Shiluv - Association for Counseling and Therapy for Families and Individuals. There were 12 founding members:

Azriel Stern – Chair ,  Matti Abramovitz – Treasurer

Aviva Lion – Secretary, Paula Dromi, Esther Halevi,

Marian Wolinski, Sarah Marbach, Hava Kronhaus

Sydel Rothstein, Shmuel Ron and Dina Schwartz.

The goals of the Association were:  

  • Providing therapy and counseling for families and the community.
  • Advancing the study and research of family therapy.
  • Raising the public’s awareness of the importance of family therapy

 

The beginnings were humble.  The Association worked afternoons out of the Institute for Training Social Workers on Abarbanel St. The founders of Shiluv saw their work as a social mission.  They volunteered their services and agreed to work at least four hours a week.  At first, most of our clients were couples, referred to us by practitioners who viewed family systems therapy as a last resort.  

1972    Dr. Naomi Golan, a social worker, was appointed head of the agency. The  population treated came from the middle and lower classes.  The fees charged were low and based on their income. An effort was made to accept every family. A decision was made to also pay the therapists a nominal salary. Staff was added, most of whom had received their family therapy training in the United States; among them Anita Bardin and Dr. Izhak Levav. 

1975   Anita Bardin, a social worker and staff member, was appointed acting director. The staff hired Dr. Israel Charny, a senior family therapist, for group supervision. Shiluv was given funding by the Ministry of Welfare, due to the efforts of Yaffa London Yaari, head of the ministry’s Social Services Department, who later joined Shiluv’s Board of Directors. 

1976    Naomi Eilander, a social worker, was appointed director. Shiluv now had an interdisciplinary staff of seven therapists. 

1978    The agency grew and moved to a new office on 30 Hapalmach St.  A Training Center was opened. Social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors studied family systems therapy with live supervision. In the beginning, sessions with live supervision were viewed through a closed-circuit television. This was an innovation for most of the mental health community in Jerusalem.

1980s          

Family systems therapy became an accepted and recognized form of treatment by therapists and the general population.  More and more couples and families sought this therapy approach. Shiluv’s Training Center expanded and we were asked to train therapists in many public and governmental agencies in the city. 

March, 1980  Batya Waschitz, M.S.W. and Head of the Social Services of the Jerusalem    Municipality, was elected Chair of Shiluv’s Board of Directors.

July, 1980   Naomi Eilander retired and Anita Bardin was appointed director of the agency. Major changes in the Ministry of Welfare resulted in an abrupt end to direct  subsidies for families’ treatment.  A financial crisis ensued at Shiluv. The staff volunteered to take pay cuts to prevent the Association from closing.

1980   Shiluv’s offices moved to 15 Betar St. Donations were solicited from home and abroad, in order to provide subsidies to needy families for the cost of treatment. 

1981     Shiluv celebrated its 10th anniversary. The Association’s name was changed to  Shiluv –  Institute for Family and Couple Therapy.  

1982    The Jerusalem Municipality provided rent-free offices to Shiluv at 111 Agrippas St. For the first time, we had an appropriate office setting, including a one-way screen through which participants in the training program could directly view sessions in progress.  

1990s  

The Jerusalem Municipality asked Shiluv to create a three-year training program in family systems therapy for city social workers, who would then staff municipal couples’ diagnosis and treatment centers.  Shiluv was also asked to develop a three-year training program in family systems therapy for the Beit Shemesh Municipality. 

January 1990  Federal funding budgets were cut.  The staff once again voted unanimously to take a 15% cut in salaries for 7 months, until the financial situation improved.  

             1991   Shiluv celebrated its 20th anniversary. With the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union, the agency created a new training program in family systems therapy for immigrant psychotherapists, which continued for three years. Shiluv raised money to offer large subsidies for new immigrant families in crisis.  

             1992   Shiluv began offering workshops to professionals covering different issues of family systems therapy.

             1995 Municipality could no longer provide rent-free offices for Shiluv and we moved once again, to our present address, 6 Halevanon, a former matza factory renovated to our specifications.  We now had six therapy rooms and two one-way screen set-ups, and Shiluv carried the full cost of rent and maintenance. Our staff had grown to 15 therapists.

            1996  The Solution Focused Brief Therapy Unit was created. Aviva Lion returned to Shiluv,  this time as a therapist, after heading up the Ministry of Welfare’s Adoption Services for close to 20 years.

            1999  A special team was created to treat families where there had been incest.

2000s

The new millennium marked a period of expansion for Shiluv. Staff members looked for new challenges and the Board of Directors approved funds for encouraging the development of expertise in innovative techniques and the creation of special units for treatment.

January 2000 Both the Trauma Unit and the Divorce Mediation Unit began their work.

2001 Shiluv celebrated its 30th anniversary

April 2002 Couple and Family Enrichment Groups were offered to the public.

June 2002 Irene Groffsky Wernik, a social worker and staff member for 15 years, was appointed Director of Shiluv. Anita Bardin remained on staff, continuing to coordinate the Continuing Education Program. Debby Porten became Clinical Coordinator. Judy Goldman Baumgold coordinated the Training Program, and David Levinstein, the In-Service training for staff. Batya Waschitz stepped down after 22 years as Chair of the Board of Directors.

August 2002 Dr. Itzhak Levav accepted the position of
Acting Chair.

June 2004 Amnon Herzig becomes Chair of the Board

November 2004 We completed the production and filming of Israel’s first teaching tape about treating incest with family therapy. The film “Incest- From Despair to Hope” is used in workshops for professionals around the country.

February 2005 We held our first conference on the topic of “Different Cultures in the Therapy Room” in Beit Belgia.

February 2006 Our second conference on the topic of “Siblings” is held in Beit Belgia. Shiluv celebrated its 35th anniversary.

February 2007 Our third conference on the topic of “Mother” in memory of Arnold Segal is held in Mercaz Begin.

June 2007, David Levinstein became clinical coordinator and Michal Benninga became coordinator of all the training done outside of Shiluv.

September 2007 Shiluv’s offices expanded into the adjacent building, and providing a larger unit for our Training Center. We now offer all the theoretical course required for family therapy accreditation.

December 2007 Shiluv’s staff grew as we added 4 new therapists.

February 2008 Our fourth conference on the topic of “Father” in memory of Arnold Segal is held in Mercaz Begin.