CHW SUPPORTS SOCIAL SERVICES
Michal Sela Forum
CHW proudly supports the Michal Sela Forum (MSF) to provide protection and safety for women and children by empowering survivors escaping domestic violence. CHW’s goal will be to raise awareness about the issues surrounding domestic abuse, share the warning signs, provide grant funding for the Michal Sela Canines Project and Michal’s Watch, and sponsor innovative programs.
MSF is a non-profit organization in Israel, founded to prevent domestic violence using technological solutions and outside-the-box thinking, along with an emphasis on broad public responsibility and awareness for identifying the warning signs of domestic violence. By creating an opportunity for the development of innovative life-saving ventures, lives will be saved, and the cycle of abuse broken.
Lili Ben Ami, is the Founder and CEO of Michal Sela Forum. Lili founded MSF in memory of her late sister Michal Sela. Michal was murdered at the hands of her husband in her own home. By bringing together the best and brightest minds of the tech world together annually, to solve the social crisis of global femicide, is both innovative and inspiring.
We hope that through CHW’s involvement we can help save lives of victims like Michal Sela, and break the cycle of violence in Israel and Canada.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding, CHW and MSF have committed to break the cycle of violence in Israel and Canada through programs and projects that bring together innovation, awareness, protection, and security.
CURRENT PROJECT:
Michal's Watch, Protection Canines, and Protection Packages
Since the horrific events of October 7, femicide in Israel has risen by 17%, with hundreds of thousands of women living under the shadow of intimate partner violence (IPV). In addition, PTSD is a major concern for men returning from war. Studies show that men with combat-related PTSD are at an elevated risk of perpetrating IPV, especially when compounded by co-occurring issues like substance abuse, depression, or poor emotional regulation. While PTSD itself does not cause violence, the MSF has been inundated with calls from women whose partners or ex-partners are returning from the war with severe symptoms.
Michal’s Watch offers tailor made Protection Packages for each and every threatened woman who turns to the MSF for immediate help.
Protection Packages represent a revolution in the field of IPV, turning a woman’s home into her shelter rather than making a woman leave her home and routine for a shelter, which serve as a very temporary solution.
Women are offered a basket of services, and are able to choose the services that best fit them and their children’s needs. In order to receive these services, women must be living apart from the threatening party, and be recognized by either the police or the social welfare services. Approximately 25 new women received MSF Protection Packages each month. This basket of services currently includes the following options:
- Installing security cameras in her home;
- Installing a panic button connected to a 24/7 emergency security company;
- Providing a mobile panic button connected to a 24/7 emergency security company;
- Providing a smart app, developed through the Michal Sela Forum;
- Providing 10 self-defense lessons by a certified self-defense instructor;
- Providing a trained personal protection canine, and providing ongoing training to the threatened woman and the canine together (read more below);
- Sending a warning letter from an attorney, threatening legal action, to the abusive party.
The Michal Sela Canines
Michal Sela Forum offers an innovative program, The Michal Sela Canines, which provides women under high-risk threat of intimate partner violence with life-saving protection dogs. The dog is given to the woman for life, and he lives with her as a family member 24/7. The dog is a life-saving gift that gives the woman quality of life, and physical and emotional security. This is an innovative project and the first of its kind in Israel.
Michal Sela Canines save the lives of women and children under threat of intimate partner violence. The dogs enable them to experience quality of life, security, peace of mind, recovery from trauma, bolstered self-confidence, and give the woman a sense of control over her life and the lives of her children.
The Michal Sela Forum provides the dogs and the women under threat with professional, tailored training. Each dog is carefully selected according to very stringent requirements and must be very social by nature, mentally stable, and physically fit.
The Michal Sela Canines package includes:
- Acquiring a protection dog for the woman under threat and her children. Each dog is carefully selected to be compatible with the woman and her individual needs and with the stringent requirements.
- Intensive professional training for three months, tailored to each woman individually.
- Dog supplies (crate, harness, collar, ball, and muzzle).
- Dog pension fund.
- Accompanying research for evaluation and measurement.
By the end of 2023, 12 women and 48 children will be protected by this program.
Read a story about Michal Sela Canines in a recent issue of ORAH magazine here:
All Michal Sela Forum services mentioned above are supported through the CHW S.O.S – Starting Over Safely summer campaign.
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