MK Michal Waldiger has launched a Knesset conference titled "Double Recovery, Dealing with Mental Health and Addictions," saying it is meant to give families the tools and support they need. In an interview with Channel 7, she said the event aims to change the reality for people struggling with both addiction and mental illness, a problem she said has grown sharply since the war began.
Waldiger said the issue is especially complex because it involves two different treatment systems, separate ministries, and multiple agencies, including the Welfare and Health ministries, health funds, and the National Insurance Institute. "There is a maze of bodies," she said, adding that the individual, and often the family too, falls through the cracks. She said the conference is designed first and foremost for families, because they remain with the person through every stage while institutions and professionals come and go.
The lawmaker said she knows the subject personally as someone from such a family and understands the despair, helplessness, and lack of support that come with it. She said the Knesset has advanced major steps this term, including what she described as bringing about 1.5 billion shekels into the permanent state budget for mental health, with additional one-time funding, and expanding training through new faculties to address staffing shortages.
Waldiger also pointed to her "mental health coordinators" initiative, now being tested in seven local authorities, which she hopes will eventually exist in every municipality as a direct point of contact for families and patients. She said the war has increased the number of wounded soldiers, trauma survivors, and people with post-traumatic stress who may later turn to addiction, calling it a family and community illness. She urged people to ask for help without shame, to notice distress in others, and to use tools such as Magen David Adom’s Tel Aviv pilot mental-health platform, which allows someone to request help on behalf of another person. In her words, "The one who asks for help is the courageous one."
