The terrorist massacre led by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova music festival this weekend resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians is horrific and heartbreaking. This has been followed by ongoing atrocities taking place in Israel and the Palestinian territories alongside a flood of graphic images and videos across news and media. Innocent civilians on both sides have and continue to lose their lives and loved ones needlessly and heinously—and the loss is being felt worldwide.
Terrorism, war crimes, and any manner or scale of loss of life impacts workers and their mental health. Even for those not directly impacted by the violence, the surge of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the onslaught of graphic media harms individuals' well-being and sense of safety, inciting very real and generational trauma and fear among the Jewish diaspora, Palestinian diaspora, historically persecuted communities, and other impacted populations.
Finding the right thing to say to your team and colleagues in the wake of violent news can be challenging. We’ve put together this page to provide resources to help employers, leaders, managers, and colleagues better support workforce mental health amid the ongoing crisis.
Emergency & Mental Health Hotlines
Israel: Call ERAN organization –1201 (also available in English)
West Bank and Jerusalem: Call ‘Sawa’ organization – 121
Gaza: Call ‘Aisha’ organization – 1800 170 171
What Employers Can Do To Support Their Workforce’s Mental Health
Violence and the fear of it causes both trauma and toxic stress—especially violence of this magnitude. The impact of violent events on our mental health doesn’t go away when we are at work. For actions that managers and leaders can take to support their people and themselves through violent, devastating events, read our article:
"Supporting Your Team’s Mental Health After a Violent News Event," Harvard Business Review.
For an additional resource around framing, see our Founder & CEO Kelly Greenwood’s post for an example of how to share compassion in a non-political way.
Resources to Talk At Work About the Terrorist Attack and Ensuing War
[Article] "How to Talk to Your Team About the Israel-Hamas War: Trauma-Informed Guidelines for Business Leaders" Inc. Here's how to address distressing world events in the workplace, according to experts, including Mind Share Partners Founder & CEO Kelly Greenwood.
[Article] “The war in Israel is already an issue inside workplaces. Here’s how leaders can talk about it with employees,” Fortune. Fortune spoke with communication experts to get advice for managers about how to address the war in the workplace.
[Article] “How to Talk About the War in Israel When You Don't Know Much About It. Not talking about it won't make it go away,” Inc. Three ways leaders can address what's happening in Israel, whether it's impacting them, their team members, or it's impacting someone who hasn't yet revealed themself to you--but is waiting for you to make it OK to bring it up at work.
Individual Resources for Coping With War & Traumatic Events
General News and Information
Organizations Providing Direct Support To Victims
The political views and opinions of the organizations listed below are solely those of those organizations and do not reflect the views, opinions, policies, or positions of Mind Share Partners, its employees, and affiliates.
Magen David Adom — is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. MDA has a dedicated medical emergency phone number in Israel, 101. The organization operates 189 stations over the country, with a fleet of over 2,000 ambulances nationwide. Among them are mobile intensive care units (MICU), special ambulances equipped for mass casualty events, and armored ambulances.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières — (MSF) is an independent international organization that provides lifesaving medical humanitarian care across the world. MSF is donating medical supplies to hospitals and health facilities in Gaza to respond to medical needs and treating patients in Palestinian territories.
United Hatzalah - When emergencies occur, rapid medical treatment increases chances of survival exponentially. Using specially equipped motorcycle ambulances, United Hatzalah’s network of more than 6,500 volunteer medics help save thousands of lives each year across Israel by providing medical treatment in an average response time of 3 minutes or less.
The American Friends of the Parents Circle - Families Forum — (AF-PCFF) is a grassroots organization that works to share narratives from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the U.S. public to foster a peace and reconciliation process.
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund - PCRF is the primary humanitarian organization in Palestine, delivering crucial and life-saving medical relief and humanitarian aid where it is needed most. Access to essential resources like food, clean water, and healthcare is severely limited.
Resources for ERGs
Mind Share Partners has created free resources for internal mental health champions that lead mental health employee resource groups (ERGs) or different ERG groups that include mental health in their activities and content.
[Article] "How Mental Health Employee Resource Groups Can Support Their DEIB Counterparts To Stop Social Injustice In The Workplace," Forbes
[Resource] Virtual Community for Mental Health ERGs - A free Slack community and ongoing resources for leaders of mental health ERGs from over 330+ companies.
[Toolkit] "How to Create a Mental Health ERG" Mind Share Partners
[Article] "How to Form a Mental Health Employee Resource Group," Harvard Business Review
Mind Share Partners is a national nonprofit changing the culture of workplace mental health so both employees and organizations can thrive. Through movement building, custom training, and strategic advising, we normalize mental health challenges to promote a mentally healthy and sustainable way of working. We pioneer landmark research, collaborate with partners, including the Office of the Surgeon General, do advocacy campaigns, and have almost 500 companies represented in our free virtual community for mental health ERG leaders.
We regularly contribute articles to Harvard Business Review, publish a Forbes column, and have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post Live, TIME, Good Morning America, Fast Company, and Bloomberg. Clients have included BlackRock, Genentech, Morrison Foerster, Pinterest, Tinder, and Yahoo.