In the weeks following October 7, galleries and community centers filled with something unexpected: children's drawings of rockets and shelters, paintings of fire and rescue, poems scratched into notebooks. Art had become an instinctive first aid.
Mental Health First Aid Israel recognizes the therapeutic power of creative expression. Art bypasses the cognitive blocks that trauma often installs, offering a pathway for emotion to surface safely.
Training includes guidance on facilitating expressive activities—not as formal art therapy, but as simple, accessible invitations to create. "You don't need to be an artist," volunteers are told. "You just need to offer the space."
When words fail, colors, shapes, and sounds can speak.
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