Nefashot Co-founders
Sivan Regev
Occupational therapist, doctor and lecturer in the field of mental health. Sivan is a serious fan of arts and culture.
"The opportunity to act informally in the public sphere, and in the cultural sphere in particular, connects to my values and to the endeavors that drive me as a person and as a professional.
The discussions that regularly take place in the group and the collective work both within Nefashot and with our partners, inspire me over and over again. "
Yaniv Rosenfeld-Cohen
Jerusalemite by birth, Yaniv is an activist who believes in the power of collaborations for good causes.
As someone who knows the world of mental health closely and comes with a background in social action, I wanted to help this unique community tell its stories in a creative way. I dreamed of the first steps and was privileged to have found soulful partners along the way.
I feel very grateful and satisfied with the spread of Nefashot and the expansion of our circles of collaboration.
Ronni Diller
Jerusalemite at heart, married and mother of four. Ronni is an occupational therapist and has been the director of the Mechina Cognitivit (a vocational training school for people coping with mental health issues) of the Israeli Public Health Association for the past 15 years.
"It all started with a one-time event, when Yaniv approached me to find people coping with mental illness who are involved in art. At the end of that evening, it was clear to us that what had happened had to continue. This is how the “Nefashot” project was born. In my eyes, the beauty and the fun of being part of Nefashot has to do with the fact that we are a people-run, informal and creative initiative. We are in continuous collaboration with others - and it does not matter if and from which organization they come or what their role is in the system: service recipients, service providers, family members, artists, cultural workers.”
Or Hizmi
Or comes from the north of Israel but Jerusalem is her home! She works, creates and plays in amateur theater.
“Nefashot welcomed me with open arms and abundant enthusiasm and gave me tools and support to make my dream come true.
Nefashot is made up of good people, full of action and love. I am happy to be in your company."
Shahar Ben Ami
Shahar creates original music and paintings that reflect his way of coping with mental illness as well as other personal experiences. Shahar supports the graphic design in Nefashot.
"It is a great privilege to be part of a wonderful team of good and inclusive people. It is very meaningful to provide a platform for open dialogue with people with mental illness that can reduce stigma and challenge the prevailing perception of mental health."
Tamar Bar Levi
Married to Alon, Tamar is a teacher assistant at a kindergarten, an activist, a social rehabilitation guide and copes with a mental illness.
“I feel connected to Nefashot’s aim to break stigma against the mental health world through community events."
"The uniqueness of Nefashot is that we have a quality combination of people coping with mental illness and professionals in the field of rehabilitation who work together through voluntary activism."
Ben Vaxman
Married to Naama and father of Hillel Yishai, Abigail and Achinoam. A professional manager at Kotev and proud to be a partner in the Nefashot project.
"Good people pulled me in to the group, in difficult moments kept me as part of the group. Actually this may be the gist of the story. How do we as a community keep everyone as part of the group?"
Carolina Ríos Mandel
social worker and art-lover, born and raised in Venezuela, currently lives in Lima, Peru, with her partner and lively twin daughters.
"Being part of Nefashot has been a truly inspiring and empowering experience for me. The Nefashot collective, which brings together diverse participants from the world of mental health always reminded me that we all need and deserve 'to belong'. Each one of us in the group has a voice and we work together to raise awareness about something as human and as stigmatized as mental health. Through the Nefashot community we have not only built meaningful and respectful relationships but we have also witnessed how the arts, culture and open dialogue can truly transform public spaces into spaces that humanize and make us feel that we do belong."
Ayala Krizel
Jerusalemite at heart, Ayala is currently a member of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. She is a psychodrama therapist and a group facilitator specializing in mental health. She is officially a bookworm and manages the reading group ״אוזני חמור״ (Oznei Chamor) on Facebook.
"I got to know Nefashot during my time working as a coordinator in the "Amitim" program and I immediately fell in love with the people, the creativity, the sense of togetherness and the mutual support.
Mainly I realized that it's really all about the people and there are people in Nefashot who inspire me to be more active and an activist”
Omri Meridor
Community director of "Making Souls - Leading Change in Mental Health” ("עושים נפשות - מובילים שינוי בבריאות הנפש").
"I was exposed to Nefashot and to Nefashot’s mental health week during the founding of the online community 'Making Souls - leading change in mental health' about two years ago. The connection to this exciting idea and to the amazing people behind it was immediate.
There is nothing like Nefashot. An independent, informal initiative that works from within the community and with the community and that has chosen to try to bring about change through one of the highlights of the human race: culture and art"