(PS8-61) A Multi-tiered Crisis Response to October 7th and the 2023 Israel-hamas War at an American Jewish High School

October 7th, 2023 marked the start of an ongoing, multifaceted, collective trauma for the Israeli and diasporic Jewish community. More than 1,200 civilians were murdered, and 253 were taken hostage. From the United States, American Jews were exposed to the gruesome details of the terror attacks via photo and video footage that began circulating in real time. Because the majority of Israeli Jews have friends and family living in the United States, many American Jews had loved ones directly impacted (American Jewish Committee, 2021). Prior to October 7th, the American Jewish community was already disproportionately victimized by hate crimes. In 2022, antisemitic hate crimes accounted for approximately 55% of religiously-motivated hate crimes, while Jews made up approximately 2.4% of the country’s population (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2023). Just weeks after October 7th, antisemitic hate crimes in the United States increased by nearly 400% (Anti-Defamation League, 2023). While the mental health impacts of October 7th and the subsequent war among American Jews is still being discovered, the majority feel less safe in the United States than they did prior to the terror attacks (American Jewish Committee, 2024).
This poster presentation outlines the multi-tiered mental health interventions implemented in response to the October 7th terror attacks, ensuing war, and rapid rise in antisemitism at an American Modern Orthodox Jewish high school. Interventions include a school-wide trauma symptoms screener, animal-assisted intervention, psychoeducational and CBT groups, trauma-informed revisions to school safety practices, and school-family-community partnerships. This poster includes analyses of qualitative and quantitative data collected from students, staff, and families, barriers and challenges to intervention implementation, strategies for increasing cultural relevance of interventions, and suggestions for future research.