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Trauma therapist describes work with kids after kibbutz killings

A teddy bear is seen left on the ground near the bomb shelter of a kibbutz home attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, near the border with Gaza, on Nov. 01, 2023 in Holit, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
A teddy bear is seen left on the ground near the bomb shelter of a kibbutz home attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, near the border with Gaza, on Nov. 01, 2023 in Holit, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

When Massachusetts-based trauma therapist Lisa Fliegel heard about the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, she had only one thought: “How quickly can I get there?

Fliegel, a consultant to the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, has trained trauma workers in Israel and Palestinian territories, as well as Northern Ireland.

She also spent 30 years living on a kibbutz in Israel where she was, and continues to be, a part of the peace movement. She’s now in Israel’s Red Sea town of Eilat where more than 60,000 displaced Israelis are sheltering — among them many of the survivors of the kibbutz attacks.

She talks to host Robin Young about her work there training counselors and working with traumatized children.

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This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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