A New Dawn in the Negev: Hotline for at-Risk Bedouin Youth
A New Dawn in the Negev: Hotline for at-Risk Bedouin Youth
A New Dawn in the Negev is currently developing a hotline for at-risk Bedouin youth, in partnership with ERAN, a veteran hotline network established in 1971 with 12 centers across Israel. This will be the first ever Arabic-language emergency hotline for Bedouin youth in Israel.
This represents a major step forward in providing life-saving services to the Negev’s Bedouin youth, who face a myriad of emotional issues as social and financial pressures continue to rise among the Arab speaking population. Although asking for help has become somewhat less taboo among the Arab population, there are very few mental health resources available for those in need. A New Dawn in the Negev's hotline will ensure the Bedouin youth receive emotional help in an accessible and culturally sensitive manner, while assisting the youth with acclimating and adjusting to the process of modernization, something the older generation has found challenging.
Twenty volunteers, all of whom will themselves be native Arab-speakers from the Negev, will be recruited, vetted, and trained by ERAN. Training will consist of workshops and seminars on crisis intervention, sensitivity, and mental health subjects. Training will also focus on issues prevalent in the Bedouin community, including issues of violence, suicide, loneliness, sexual abuse, mental illness, and anxiety. The hotline will be housed at A New Dawn’s offices, and will operate on a daily basis. Two workstations for volunteers, with proper infrastructure to ensure confidentiality will be set up in the office. A New Dawn in the Negev anticipates that in the first year of operation, volunteers will answer 100 calls to the hotline each month.