Professor Orit Nuttman Shwartz’s expertise is in high demand these days.
A social worker and senior lecturer at Sapir College near Sderot and Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Nuttman Shwartz has published widely and presented internationally on trauma and post traumatic stress disorder.
But she is not an expert purely because of her academic work. Rather, her hands-on experience helping traumatized students in the south of Israel, who live under a continuous barrage of Kassam rockets fired by Hamas-led Palestinians from Gaza, particularly informs her work.
This week, she spoke with groups in Milwaukee as part of a visit sponsored by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Center.
On Sunday, Sept. 14, speaking to a general audience of some 35 at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, Nuttman Shwartz, discussed “Living Under Fire: Individuals and Communities near the Gaza Border.”
Monday, Sept. 15, she led a seminar for some 40 mental health professionals at Jewish Family Services, on “Traumatic Events: The Shared Reality for Individuals, Communities and Helping Professionals.” That event was co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Mental Health Education Project, a collaborative project of the Greater Milwaukee Jewish community that is coordinated by Jewish Family Services.
Throughout the week, she spoke to Jewish and general audiences all over the city — including professionals in social work, psychology and psychiatry.
As a result of recent disasters — the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, among others — there has emerged “an understanding that it has become necessary around the world to learn” how to respond to mass trauma, said Nuttman Shwartz, a certified group psychotherapist and group analyst who founded and heads Sapir College’s social work department.
There has been particular interest in her expertise in the new concept of “shared traumatic reality,” currently her main research and teaching focus.
In addition to articles published in British and American psychological journals, Nuttman Shwartz is lecturing internationally on this concept. Last year she was invited to the School of Social Work at Tulane University in New Orleans. And she has been invited to speak this year in Jakarta, Indonesia, a Muslim country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
Included in the concept is the idea that the therapist and the client are sharing the same traumatic experience.
In the kind of situation that exists near the Gaza border, the traumatized “client” and “therapist” are more interdependent. The client may be in a position to help the therapist, which may empower the client.
This contrasts sharply with the traditional therapist/client situation, noted Milwaukee therapist Naomi Berkowitz and JCMHEP Chair Norma Gilson, who also participated in the interview.
That difference in perspective is just what makes Nuttman Shwartz’s visit valuable, said Rakefet Ginsberg, Israel emissary and director of the Israel Center.
“Though Israel, unfortunately, has this experience with trauma, we have been able to take something positive out of it. We have been able to learn from this bad experience and bring this important knowledge to other places in the world.”
Based on results of Nuttman Shwartz’s research, Sapir College has undertaken many activities to help traumatized students by providing a stronger sense of family and community.
Nuttman Shwartz said that students who live on kibbutzim, who have more family support and a history of meeting such trauma with courage, have the most effective coping skills. Those living in Sderot, mostly in apartments, are the most emotionally vulnerable.
“We find that to feel a sense of belonging to the campus is a major factor that moderates the pathological responses,” Nuttman Shwartz said.
So to foster that sense of belonging, the college has added such amenities as free coffee and snacks, lunchtime entertainment and excursions to Tel Aviv.
In addition, the school has been offering scholarships for the past two years (with funds from the Jewish Agency for Israel and private donations) to cover half the cost of tuition for all students. But more funds are needed.
“The Jewish Agency is a very good partner for us, I must say, but it’s not enough, because we have a lot of needs,” Nuttman Shwartz said.
Still, the college is working to turn trauma into growth. “The pathological response is to close down but we try to do the opposite.”
So the college has reached out and initiated programs that give students the opportunity to work with traumatized people in other countries. Currently, Nuttman Shwartz has students volunteering in Gori, Georgia, she said.
This kind of effort is something she calls “‘post traumatic growth.’ In our campus, on one hand, we understand that we are under attack but even so we have to create our program and be unique,” she said.
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