Tel-Hai Magazine 2022

The Galilee Research Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health: promoting wellbeing through applied research

The Galilee Research Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health is a joint initiative between Tel-Hai College and the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Center (CAMH) at the Ziv Medical Cen ter, Safed. It was co-founded in 2018 by Dr. Vered Shenaar-Golan, Senior Lec turer, Department of Social Work, Tel Hai College, and Dr. Uri Yatzkar, Direc tor of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Ziv. The center was established on the basis of a shared ap preciation of the benefits of collabora tion between academic research and clinical practice. The center’s objectives are to provide optimal services for the region, to train the next generation of clinicians, to develop knowledge and ap ply the findings of research in improving treatment strategies. “The focus of my research has always been on well-being,” explains Dr. She naar-Golan, whose initial work was fo cused on families of children with special needs. "An important role of academic study is to promote the well-being of in dividuals and groups through applied research – in which, researchers and cli nicians create knowledge together.” Drs.

able in Hebrew and Arabic, that mea sure strengths, moods, difficulties, feel ings, anxiety, depression, parent-child relationships and additional parameters. While the data provides information for the core research, clinical staff and pa tients gain immediate benefit. Clinicians can compare the patient scores to the norms for each questionnaire, and cus tomize individual treatment plans more effectively. In the few years that the Research Cen ter has been operating, significant discov eries have already been made such as the findings about self-compassion and well-being, and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on child and adoles cent mental health. The benefits of self compassion

Shenaar-Golan and Yatzkar built a part nership and a trust, with the strong sup port of Tel-Hai College. “Our overarch ing goal, shared with our partners at the Ziv Medical Center, is to improve the lives of children and families in the Gal ilee,” says Dr. Shenaar-Golan. "The fact that this collaboration is taking place in the northern periphery, with its complex and diverse populations, rein forces the importance and value ​of this project. To facilitate accessibility to ser vices, the CAMH center runs a number of branches: Kiryat Shmona, Tiberias, Katzrin and Maghar, serving a diverse ethnic population of religious and secu lar Jews, Druze, Muslims and Chris tians.” Collating the data The first mission of the Research Center was to set up the data infrastructure within the CAMH. “Clinicians were still working with handwritten notes,” re counts Dr. Shenaar-Golan. “We comput erized all the records and standardized the intake procedures.” Now, parents and children, arriving at the center, fill out standardized questionnaires, avail

When talking about the mental health of children and adoles cents, the wellbeing of their parents

must also be ad dressed. Parenting can present many

Tel-Hai Magazaine | 2022 20