A Talk from Israel · U.S. Visit, October 2026

From Crisis to Resilience

Building mental-health infrastructure under fire

Inon Ivgi, President of Makshivim, a mental-health organization based in Sderot, invites you into a city where every resident knows exactly how many seconds they have to reach shelter — and into the question that grew out of it: how do you build mental resilience when the emergency becomes everyday life?

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~15sec

Until reaching shelter This is what an emergency moment looks like in Sderot. Makshivim was built so that moment never goes unanswered — not on day 30, and not a year later.

"Imagine building a mental-health organization in a city where every person knows exactly how many seconds they have to reach shelter. That city is Sderot. And it is our home."

Inon Ivgi, President of Makshivim

For years we worked with children, families, and communities on mental health and resilience. We thought we understood crisis. Then came October 7, and the question changed — from "how do we help a person in crisis" to "how do we help thousands when the entire system is under pressure." Survivors of the Nova festival, families of reservists, residents of Sderot and the Gaza border communities, displaced families, and the professionals themselves — living through the same national crisis they were trying to treat.

Three Stories, Not Twenty Statistics

What's Behind the Numbers

Behind every statistic is a person. These are three of them — anonymized, without the drama, exactly as they are.

Story 1 · A Survivor

The Fisherman from Ashkelon

He survived the October 7th massacre under heavy fire, with two bullets still in his body. After weeks in the hospital, he found himself completely alone — until a Makshivim team member came to his home for a three-hour conversation, just to listen.

"We will be wherever we are needed... to listen, support, and hold those left behind."

Story 2 · A Family

Children of Reservists

Behind every soldier is a family carrying the burden: a parent's prolonged absence, ongoing fear and uncertainty, and children facing anxiety, loneliness, and behavioral regression. This isn't a moment — it's a long-term reality.

The support doesn't end when the headlines move on.

Story 3 · A Therapist

Who Cares for the Caregivers?

The professionals themselves are living through the same national reality as the people they treat. The volume of requests, documentation, and urgency doesn't spare them either — and it forces a question that's easy to miss.

Who takes care of the people who take care of everyone else?

Where the Old Model Wasn't Enough

Technology that gives professionals more time to be human

Not to replace clinical judgment. Not to turn therapy into an algorithm. Instead, technology takes on the parts machines can help with — so professionals can focus on the parts only a human can do.

Humanity

Technology

Community

Resilience at Scale

Who needs us first?

When many people need support at once, "first come, first served" isn't enough. Tools help organize incoming information and support prioritization — the right person, the right professional, the right time.

Therapists, not data clerks

Every hour spent documenting and summarizing is an hour not spent with a person. Technology supports intake, documentation, and reporting — so clinical time stays clinical.

Seeing what's easy to miss

Information spread across hundreds of interactions can hide important patterns. AI-assisted tools help surface signals for professional attention — the clinical decision always stays with trained humans.

Makshivim, by the Numbers

Every number is a human story

The data behind the journey from Sderot to a national mental-health infrastructure.

471%

Increase in mental-health inquiries since October 7, 2023

60,000+

Requests for support handled per year

3,500+

Children received emotional support and treatment

1,200

Volunteers and professionals, in Israel and worldwide

500+

Families supported through the full journey

73,290

Beneficiaries — the committed goal for 2026

Why This Story Matters Beyond Israel

What would happen if your community suddenly had three times as many people needing mental-health support — tomorrow?

Would your system know who needs help first?

Where the bottlenecks are, and which professionals are overloaded?

Who has disappeared from follow-up, and where the greatest risks are emerging?

This is the question we've been trying to answer, day after day, in Sderot.

We Didn't Come Only to Tell You What Happened

Three ways to become part of the story

The story is still being written. The need doesn't end when people return home — and Makshivim keeps building the infrastructure for the next stage.

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Open a Door

Introduce us to a community, foundation, donor, or organization that could connect with this story.

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Host the Story

Bring "From Crisis to Resilience" to your community, home, synagogue, organization, or company.

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Build With Us

Support the next stage of mental-health and resilience programs for the communities we serve.

U.S. Visit · October 3–23, 2026

New York · New Jersey · Washington, D.C. · Philadelphia · Florida

Set Up Time with Inon

"I come from Sderot. A place where, for years, we learned how quickly life can change. But Sderot taught us something else too: resilience is not the absence of crisis. It is the ability of people, communities, and systems to keep building through it. We cannot always choose the crisis that reaches our door. But we can choose what we build in response."

What we build after the crisis may define us more than the crisis itself.

Inon Ivgi

President, Makshivim Association · Psychologist, Entrepreneur, Resilience Leader

We'd love to talk, and to schedule a community talk, a leadership roundtable, or a private partnership meeting during the U.S. visit in October 2026.

inon@makshivim-il.org +972 54 204 4915 makshivim.org.il LinkedIn Sderot, Israel

In Their Own Words

Our Story, on Video

Two short clips showing Makshivim at work on the ground — during the COVID crisis, and during the current war.

The COVID Crisis

What we did during the COVID crisis

The War Crisis