Alone and Together Center
Treatment and Training for People with Social and Cognitive Disabilities
Late Teens and Adults with Cognitive, Social, or Emotional Disabilities
After years of work and familiarity with this population, we have come to understand the great need for counseling, treatment, and training, in the fields personal and social relationships and sex. People with social difficulties are in need of, and are thirsty for knowledge, consciousness, training, treatment, and receiving tools and opportunities for making social connections and/or personal relationships. We do this by means of organizing groups, trips, parties, and social events with accompaniment, supervision and training given by appropriate staff members.
Parents and Family Members of People with Special Needs
Parents and family members feel many times that they are lacking tools to deal with many issues that arise concerning their special needs child and his/her interpersonal and sexual world. Parents need knowledge and emotional support to know that there are other parents with similar problems and questions and that there is even professional guidance. We, at the center, recognize this need and understand that in order to advance the person, himself, occasionally it is necessary to begin with the family members who are in daily contact with him.
Staff members and Service Providers for People with Special Needs
As service providers, we come in significant contact with the population of special needs people and their families. We have been exposed more than once to questions, dilemmas, difficulties and tough decisions around the subject of sexuality and personal relationships. We, at the center, understand the need to provide the appropriate tools and knowledge that will allow staff members to give the best possible response for their clients.
The Center Staff
The center's staff is diverse in its training and knowledge. This is in order to provide a wide repository of responses to different kinds of needs. The center is comprised of rehabilitation social workers, educational counselors from the field of special education, psychotherapists, and sex therapists. The staff members have extensive experience in their respective fields with special expertise in the area of education and sex counseling with the special needs population.
The center's professional director is Mr. Gabo Weiss. Gabo is a psychotherapist and a licensed sex therapist (member of Agudat ITI"M), an expert in sexuality and rehabilitation; lecturer in the program for sexual therapy at Bar Ilan University. He's a psychotherapist and a group therapist in the child and adolescent clinic at the psychiatric hospital in Nes Tziona. In his past, he gave training nationally in the field of sexuality in special education with the Psychological and Counseling Services branch of the Ministry of Education.
Center Activities and Treatments
The center is aware of the wide and varied array of tools available for adults and late teens with special needs to help them be an active and inseparable part of our society and to be able to maintain healthy personal relationships and sexuality:
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Social skills development and improvement of interpersonal communication
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Self consciousness and acceptance
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Education for healthy, enjoyable, and responsible sexuality
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Improved self image and sexual image
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Building and maintaining intimate personal relationships, emphasis on communication
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Decreasing of unacceptable sexual behaviors and lessening risk of sexual assault
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Training, counseling, and treatment of relationship and sexual difficulties
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Offering of opportunities for making social connections
Types of Treatments Given at the Center for Free:
1. Relationship and Sexual Counseling and Treatment
2. Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy with a Rehabilitation Orientation
3. Group Training in the field of sexuality
4. Group Work in the field of interpersonal relations
5. Group and Individual Training for Parents and other Therapists
6. Social Club Activities, Clubs, Social Events, Internet Forums
7. Continuing Education Courses, Conferences, and Lectures for
Professionals and the Public Audiences
How Do We Get There?
Center Address: Beit "Nitzan", Rechov HaNasi HaRishon 44, Rechovot. Not far from the Weitzman Institute, which is found on Rechov HaNasi HaRishon at the corner of Herzel St.
Contact:
You can contact the center by one of the following methods:
1. To make an appointment, call or send a fax during office hours:
Tel: 08-946-0299
Telefax: 08-946-8988
Office hours: Sun-Thurs from 8am-7pm
2. email: rehovot@nitzan-israel.org.il