Counseling Centers

ELEM opened a model storefront counseling and information center in the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv in 1997, the first of what has now become a national network of Youth Counseling and Support Centers called Hafuch Al Hafuch.

The Centers were established with the purpose of providing young people with a sympathetic ear, counseling, assistance and support. The Center offers group and personal discussions and workshops on a variety of issues that interest adolescents such as drug and alcohol abuse, family and school violence, parent-child relations, sexuality and sexual relations, and military service.

There are now 12 ELEM counseling and information centers including: Kiryat Shemona, Kiryat Yam, Acco, Upper Nazareth, Netanya, Kfar Saba, Tel Aviv, Kiryat Gat, Holon, Sderot, Ashdod and Afula. The Centers are open five days a week in the afternoon and evening hours. In 2006 approximately 30,000 contacts were made by the staff of the Hafuch al Hafuch Centers.