Shalva Center - Gush Etzion was established in September 2001, a year after the second intifada erupted. Inherent difficulties in travelling between the Gush environs and Jerusalem resulted in many obstacles and prevented the residents from leading a normal life. Families with special needs children faced an even more painful and complex experience; nearly every journey to Jerusalem became an arduous task.

In answer to the requests of both the parents and the Gush Etzion Land Allocation Council, Shalva opened a fully-equipped, picturesque center in the small town of Alon Shvut. It is here that we provide all the therapeutic activities required by the Gush's special needs children. And just as in Jerusalem branch, service in Shalva-Gush Etzion is provided to the participants free of charge.

Community Involvement

Only five years after its establishment, the Shalva Center in Gush Etzion exemplifies the enthusiastic willingness of a community to accept those who are "different."  This branch is a focal point of extensive volunteer work. Many of the community adults and teenagers participate in the branch's activities and contribute their time and energy to the children at the center. Many parents send their non-challenged children to the integration courses, which instill from a young age the qualities of tolerance, sensitivity and the value of giving.

The Annual Fair

Every year in July the residents of Gush Etzion organize a gigantic art fair and donate the proceeds to the Shalva Center. The fair is divided into several areas. In the music section we've had such acclaimed artists as Micha Shitrit and Aaron Raizel.   Israeli star Mussa Berlin appeared with his daughter Odelya in a moving performance that included the Shalva children. There is an area that is replete with inflatable installations; a theatre space that has been graced with magicians and puppet shows; there are sections for snacks and a lovely 'artspace' where work by both local artists and shalva children are sold.  The event also features clowns and men on stilts, creating great excitement  and lending a carnival feeling to the event. 

Target Audience

• Children 6-19 years old of slight-to-medium level of intellectual and physical delays
• Children arrive from all surrounding areas and from Beit Shemesh

Center Goals

• Instilling in the children a capacity for personal independence.
• Enabling the parents to regain physical and emotional strength so they can continue to take care of their children at home instead of opting for institutionalization.
• Instilling social skills within an experiential therapeutic framework: developing inter-personal communication, codes of social etiquette, responsibility, forming relations with children on their level and giving to those who are weaker.
• Raising the child's self-image.
• Integrating into the community: mutual intensive activity with the neighborhood residents with the aim of neutralizing fears, removing mental blocks and paving the way toward the children's integration into their environment.

Therapies at the Center

• Music Therapy: Developing a means of communication for children who are limited verbally; reduces frustration and allows expression of distress; assists in emotional growth and a general increase in the child's self-image. The staff  works with the children in small groups, in order to maximize the treatment's success.
• Animals: Strengthening social connections, learning how to treat animals and humans with sensitivity, enhancing self-image, understanding the importance of boundaries and more.
• Computers: Improving communication skills, developing delicate motor and thought processes. By working one-on-one, the child becomes the center of the interactive activity.
• Snoezelen: Stimulating and motivating the child to explore his environment by using equipment that encourages movement and stimulates the senses of smell, touch, hearing and sight.
• Play Room: Improving both physical and social interaction while teaching skills such as waiting one's turn, using imagination, and measuring time.
• Library: Enriching the imagination, assistance in language development and broadening the range of emotional-expression.

An individual program for each child

In addition to group therapy, each child is given an individual program. He is assigned tasks according to his level of ability, such as preparing salad, watering plants, cleaning and washing dishes after the meal.