IMFA, an organization that treats post-trauma through an integrative, research-based method, won the Knesset Speaker’s Prize for Quality of Life for 5785. It was the sole winner in the category recognizing efforts to strengthen mental and emotional resilience after the Iron Swords War.
The prize committee said IMFA advances integrative medicine and, since the start of the war, has helped rehabilitate reservists who fought for long periods. The goal is to reduce the risk of post-traumatic stress and support a balanced return to civilian life.
The committee also cited the organization’s flagship program, “Starting Over,” in which hundreds of reservists took part in a therapeutic process designed to strengthen self-confidence, restore meaning, and build personal and community resilience. In its decision, the board wrote that the award was granted “for its important contribution to strengthening the resilience of the servicemen and of Israeli society as a whole.”
IMFA was founded in 2022 and runs the Medical Care integrative rehabilitation hospital. According to the organization, more than 700 reservists have already joined “Starting Over,” which offers emotional processing and helps restore self-worth, meaning, and a sense of control in civilian life. At the ceremony, Reserve Maj. Raziel Barbi, founder of the “War for the Soul” forum, said soldiers “are not looking for pity” but for tools to return home and heal, and stressed that responsibility for supporting them continues after the war ends.
