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Mental Health Therapy Services

12 May 2026

Types of mental health therapy

Mental health treatment may be obtained in the community through HMO clinics or as part of their service providers such as hospitals, organizations and NPOs. The services are free of charge or provided for a low quarterly fee. There is a wide range of treatments:

  • Hotlines for mental health support: HMOs operate hotlines both during normal times and during emergencies.
  • Crisis intervention: HMOs offer a series of 3 telephone support calls with professionals who will help you cope with various crises depending on need, type of service required, and clinical severity.
  • Mental health care practitioners such as a psychiatrist or psychotherapist operate with the staff of family physicians and pediatricians, nurses, and other HMO clinics and HMO center staff.
  • Multidisciplinary mental health care clinics, employing several professionals: psychiatrist, psychotherapist, social worker, nurse, occupational therapist, art therapist, and more.
  • Independent therapists working in private clinics provide psychotherapy, which is a part of the HMO network with partial subsidization.
  • Crisis teams are multidisciplinary, quick, intensive, and short-term therapeutic interventions that are given in the patient's home to stabilize a severe mental health condition and avoid psychiatric hospitalization.
  • Assertive Community Treatment (ACT): intense multidisciplinary treatment provided in the patient’s home for a defined period of time to stabilize their mental health and prevent psychiatric hospitalization. The treatment consists of a set of services that are offered less intensively than psychiatric hospitalization but more intensively than crisis teams. Crisis teams: a multidisciplinary, rapid, short-term and intense therapeutic response that is provided in the patient’s home to stabilize a severe state of mental health and prevent psychiatric hospitalization.
  • Intensive outpatient psychiatric treatment, six hours per session, multiple times a week, to stabilize and control mental health and avoid psychiatric hospitalization.
  • Balancing homes: for anyone experiencing an acute mental health crisis, to prevent hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital.
  • Psychiatric home hospitalization: intense multidisciplinary treatment that is provided in the patient’s home or within rehabilitative housing, with the assistance of a primary caregiver, in lieu of psychiatric hospitalization.

Resilience centers that offer emotional therapy

Resilience centers offer a free therapeutic response to anyone who is experiencing dysfunction and anxiety as a result of the security situation. Professionals with licenses who specialize in trauma therapy are providing the therapy.

The resilience center provides family, group, or individual therapy via Zoom, phone, or in-person. There are centers spread out across the country. You will be directed to a center in your neighborhood after receiving initial service over the phone at *5486.

Psychiatric hospitalization

People who are in a severe mental state that keeps them from being at home can receive therapy to improve their mental health while they are in a psychiatric hospital. In these cases, the person is unable to make sound decisions, has severe symptoms that necessitate close monitoring, or poses a risk to himself or others.

Psychiatric hospitalization can occur in a general hospital's psychiatric ward or in a psychiatric hospital.

Seeking mental health care may be needed due to emotional distress, a mental health crisis, or coping with a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, trauma-related disorders, eating disorders, and more.

How to get help when distressed

When experiencing emotional distress, you can seek help through your HMO, where you will go through an assessment, evaluation, and referral process to the treatment option that best fits your needs - except in a medical emergency, when you should go to the emergency room.

What is your mental health situation? Who should you contact?

Mild to moderate emotional distress
  • Initial mental health support hotline through your HMO.
  • Telephone-based emotional support treatment through your HMO.
  • Your primary care doctor.
  • Treatment and evaluation by mental health professionals (such as a psychiatrist or psychotherapist) at the community clinic of your HMO.
  • A multidisciplinary mental health clinic operated by your HMO or one of its providers.
  • Direct referral for psychotherapy with an independent therapist (with copay). For cost details.
  • If the distress is related to a security situation, contact one of the resilience centers or the National Resilience Center at *5486.
Severe emotional distress that is not life-threatening

Contact your HMO, which will refer you to the service that best fits your condition, including:
Extreme (acute) or life-threatening emotional distress

Go to the emergency room at a mental health center (psychiatric hospital) or a general hospital for evaluation, initial treatment, and a decision about discharge or referral for psychiatric hospitalization.

If the emotional distress is extreme but not life-threatening, you may discuss hospitalization alternatives with the treating provider or your primary care doctor, such as balancing homes or psychiatric home hospitalization.

For Your Information

For Your Information

The National Insurance Institute's Division for Victims of Hostilities (Hebrew) and the Ministry of Defense's Rehabilitation Department (Hebrew) both treat disabled IDF soldiers and victims of hostilities.

Therapy via HMOs

The HMOs offer treatments for a variety of emotional disorders, distresses, and dysfunction levels. Typically, the HMO provides and finances all mental health services. Treatment that is given in HMO clinics or in clinics and programs run by HMO service providers, including hospitals, organizations, and non-profit organizations. Make sure you have prior authorization from the HMO (Form 17) if the treatment is not offered in an HMO clinic.

Cost: the service is provided free of charge or for a low quarterly fee.

Types of Mental Health Care

  • Mental health support hotline: Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) operate a hotline during routine times and emergencies.
  • Telephone-based mental health care: Through HMOs, you can receive a series of three support calls with professional therapists to help you cope with various crises.
  • Care in primary care clinics operated by HMOs: Mental health professionals, such as psychiatrists or psychotherapists, work alongside and in collaboration with family medicine and pediatric teams, nurses, and the rest of the clinic staff. More information about care in a primary (community-based) clinic
  • Care in mental health clinics: Care is provided in a multidisciplinary clinic operated by an HMO or its providers, such as hospital outpatient clinics, organizations, or nonprofits. These clinics offer care by multiple professionals from different fields, including psychiatry, psychotherapy, social work, nursing, occupational therapy, art therapy, and more.
  • Psychotherapy with an independent provider: Care is provided by independent therapists who work in their own private practices under arrangements with HMOs. The service is partially subsidized and requires a copayment for each session. For cost details, see the Kol HaBriut website
  • Crisis teams (Crisis Team): Rapid, short-term, intensive, multidisciplinary care provided in the patient’s home, with the goal of stabilizing an acute mental health crisis and preventing psychiatric hospitalization. More information about crisis teams
  • Assertive Community Treatment (ACT): Intensive, multidisciplinary care provided in the patient’s home for a defined period, with the goal of stabilizing mental health and preventing psychiatric hospitalization. This care package is more intensive than crisis team care but less intensive than psychiatric home hospitalization. More information about assertive community treatment
  • Psychiatric day treatment: Intensive care intended for patients in an acute condition, aimed at preventing psychiatric hospitalization. In day treatment, patients attend a therapeutic setting 3–5 times a week, each time for a 6-hour treatment day. Day treatment includes individual and group multidisciplinary care, as well as various activities. In addition to general day treatment programs for a wide range of mental health conditions, there are specialized day programs for eating disorders, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and postpartum depression. More information about psychiatric day treatment
  • Balance homes: A balance home is intended for people experiencing an acute mental health crisis, with the goal of avoiding psychiatric hospitalization and recovering in a home-like, warm, and supportive community setting. Care combines medical, psychological, and social approaches and is provided by a multidisciplinary team and counselors who support the patient around the clock. Care requires a referral and approval from the insuring HMO and that the balance home be contracted as an HMO provider. More information about balance homes
  • Psychiatric home hospitalization: An alternative to psychiatric hospitalization in a hospital. Psychiatric home hospitalization allows people experiencing an acute mental health crisis to receive intensive, multidisciplinary care in their own home, with the support of a primary caregiver. The primary caregiver is usually a family member, partner, or close friend who lives with the patient. Receiving care at home, in a familiar and supportive environment, can promote positive feelings such as calm, choice, and a sense of control, while preserving the patient’s personal identity and maintaining functional, psychological, social, and occupational continuity. All of these support recovery and a faster return to daily functioning. Care requires a referral and approval from the insuring HMO. More information about psychiatric home hospitalization

Important

Important

39% of people who were hospitalized will be re-hospitalized within six months. Intense therapy provided during hospitalization helps stabilize and control mental health conditions, but it is important to continue to adhere to therapy in the community as well.

Mental Health Hotlines of the HMOs

Emotional therapy at resilience centers

Resilience centers provide a therapeutic response to any person experiencing anxiety and dysfunction due to the security situation. Professionals with licenses who specialize in trauma therapy are providing the therapy.

The centers provide individual, group and family therapy by telephone, Zoom or in person at the therapeutic centers across the country. You can contact a hotline in your neighborhood after receiving initial service by calling *5486. You can also directly call these numbers to obtain information in the following languages:

Cost: the service is provided free of charge.

Psychiatric hospitalization

Mental health hospitalization is designed for any person coping with acute disorders or mental health disabilities that prevents them from screaming at home due to one of the following reasons:

  1. The individual is a danger to himself, to someone else or to the environment.
  2. Disorganized behavior or lack of judgment that causes the person to neglect themselves and results in severe dysfunction.
  3. Severe symptoms at a level that requires intense treatment and observation.

Hospitalization may involve a psychiatric hospital or the psychiatric ward in a general hospital. More on psychiatric hospitalization (Hebrew)