Initiatives
Fighters for Life is proud to partner with Fighters For Life USA, our US non-profit. Together we are working to get the care and treatment that our servicemen and women deserve.
The Creation of a Therapeutic Treatment Village
Along with our partners in the US, we are working hard to build a unique rehabilitation and treatment village designed to support war veterans with PTSD.
Often, it’s not just the initial trauma that creates so much pain, but the lack of support and understanding after that causes so much devastation. We believe that coming together and sharing stories and personal experience with other battle-scarred fighters and their families can facilitate healing in a way that nothing else can.
Located in northern Israel, overlooking the sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, this village is designed to support the veteran’s journey to recovery and provide the tools needed to reintegrate to life off the battlefield.
The center will provide holistic health care administered by medical and para-medical professionals with expertise in treating battle wounded soldiers living with PTSD.
A primary goal of this center is to impart coping tools for PTSD veterans and join both IDF fighters and US war veterans in a therapeutic process. This village seeks to establish human connections within the context of shared experience and will serve as a base for delegations and as a safe, therapeutic community focused on the treatment of PTSD with equal focus on both physical and emotional well-being.
The Therapeutic Treatment Village will be a warm, safe space for fighters and their families to rehabilitate from the heavy burden of post-trauma. Teams of trained psychologists, psychiatrists, art therapists and other professionals from both Israel and the US will impart skills through workshops, classes and travel, that will support the everyday needs of a fighter living with PTSD and ultimately, help them reclaim their place as functioning and contributing members in their communities.
Israel Mission for US War Veterans
PTSD is an international language. We believe that the act of coming together and sharing stories and experiences with other battle-scarred fighters can facilitate healing in a way that nothing else can.
Fighters for Life offers the opportunity for small delegations of US veterans living with PTSD to visit the Holy Land, meet other fighters with stories like their own, share experiences, participate in facilitated treatments, workshops, and classes and connect to a power greater than themselves…to connect to each other.
הִנֵּ֣ה מַה־טּ֖וֹב וּמַה־נָּעִ֑ים שֶׁ֖בֶת אַחִ֣ים גַּם־יָֽחַד
“Behold, how good and pleasing it is for brothers and sisters to sit together in unity.” – Psalms 133
Hevel Zug – He’s Not Heavy He’s My Brother:
Fighters for Life operates an incredible initiative that connects IDF Navy Seals with IDF vets living with PTSD for one-on-one mentoring sessions every two weeks over the course of a year. We offer our fighters three separate settings for these powerful meetings, either sailing, surfing or scuba diving.
In Hebrew this initiative is called “Chevel Zug” (which translates literally to “Rope Partners”) It’s named for an exercise that connects two seals with a single rope underwater, if one is injured, the other pulls him up.
We’re naming this exceptional mentoring program “He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother”
Legal Aid
“Fighters For Life” was created to support and finance the legal and medical process that a battle impacted combat soldier must undergo in order to receive “official” recognition from the state. We supply IDF soldiers who were injured during their service with legal and medical support.