All the participants conducted both individual and group therapy sessions on Zoom. Orit described individual therapy:
I would like to talk about the stages in which we didn’t work in my office, we worked like we are talking now [on Zoom]. I had to create some significant, intimate connection through the camera. It was really a far from simple challenge. But a different kind of intimacy was created. [For example,] my patients know what my office looks like but I never saw their rooms, and they managed to create a lot of intimacy. They showed me many things in their rooms …. And they also showed me many texts that they wrote. Maybe, in some way, it was more comfortable for them to show them to a person inside a camera. I also felt that we created a kind of shared kingdom. Some kind of entity was created…
As a member of a small group of therapists who organized for this purpose, Ilan works as volunteer, conducting remote individual trauma therapy sessions for people who were injured by police violence during demonstrations:
As a therapist, I joined a small group that gives [remote] therapy to trauma victims who were injured as a result of police violence… the traumatic injuries that they experience…[it’s] really complicated. The group actually offers 2-3 sessions of…trauma therapy…. to anyone who feels that they have some symptoms or problems hours, a day, or even days later, and they want someone to support them.
Participants also described their use of technology in group settings:
Ziva’s experiences included teaching and guiding psychodrama in groups: “… on Zoom, in Zoom conversation …. I brought in two chairs. I brought my computer into the kitchen and placed two chairs there and said, anxiety is sitting here, and here is uncertainty…”
Judith started working on Zoom in all her work settings:
…We wanted to take a moment to re-organize before we decided to return to our meetings. For one and a half months we met on Zoom and after one and a half months I rented another place. A giant space, a dance studio, and we’ve been meeting there since… When I worked on Zoom, I worked with everyone on Zoom. Both the therapeutic group and individual sessions, and the training groups.
Sheerie used the telephone or WhatsApp video with her clients in the outpatient clinic, and also held remote group sessions. Gil started to conduct his therapy sessions in all fields on WhatApp video: in his clinic, in public services, and in the education system. In her paper, Dimona described how she shifted an entire program to Zoom, involving the teachers and students in her group social education learning (SLE) program:
…the pandemic and its far-reaching consequences forced a sudden shift to online group interventions, …The innovative Synchronous Growth Model … consists of two modules: a student-centered module and teacher-focused module. …The group facilitators discussed options for conducting the course during lockdown, and the majority decided to continue the meetings online. The facilitators raised concerns such as whether students from under-resourced communities could communicate adequately online, how to maintain the attention of students with special needs and how to reframe group goals….The shift to online group meetings was successful. Most of the students participated in the group meetings; activities were designed for online environments; and group goals were modified from enhancing personal skills to addressing situations caused by the lockdown and uncertainty – focusing on relaxation, stress relief and anxiety reduction.
