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I serve voluntarily as the Head of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) for Welfare and Mental Health in my community, a small moshav (160 families), on Israel’s northern border. My team, which includes two social workers, a psychologist, and myself, a Dance Movement Therapist, works closely with the Medical ERT, consisting of two physicians, certified nurses, and medics. Together, we provide rapid and coordinated physical and psychological support to the community.

We regularly conduct emergency drills for scenarios such as earthquakes and missile strikes. According to state guidelines, communities must rely on their own resources during the first 72 hours of a crisis. Since 2020, we have confronted two major challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in October 2023. These events transformed training exercises into real-time emergency response operations, underscoring the need for structured protocols

We developed a protocol for managing casualties. A nurse conducts triage for all injured individuals. A clinical psychologist performs a mental health assessment. Physical injuries are prioritized; if both physical and psychological trauma are present, medical stabilization occurs before psychological intervention. Individuals with only trauma or anxiety symptoms receive immediate care.

I developed a clinical protocol model, AMI (active movement intervention), for rapid intervention in anxiety and trauma cases. The model integrates an initial assessment, physical activation, a calming phase, and psychoeducation. AMI has been shown to reduce unnecessary reliance on pharmacological interventions and has been officially adopted as the primary protocol for immediate response by ERT in our community.