Machol is a three-year boarding school for thirty two 15-18-year-old girls at risk where the girls participate in individual meetings and group activities that promote personal development and social reintegration via self-expression and personal acceptance.
Alternative Therapy sessions encourage each girl to express her inner world through drawing, music, writing, dance therapy and animal therapy. Academic achievement is pursued in small study groups and one-on-one learning sessions with qualified teachers.
Throughout the 3 years at Machol, Timora puts greater emphasis on integration into society and on preparing these young women for life after graduation, helping them enroll in the IDF, National Service, or other preparatory programs.
Machol’s Alternative Therapy Treatment Program’s annual cost is $100,000 that consists of art, writing, dance therapy, music and animal therapy. The program runs for 35 weeks and consists of 23 weekly hours of art, 15 weekly hours of music, 8 weekly hours of movement and 12 weekly hours of animal therapy. The cost per hour is approximately $50.
Most of Machol’s thirty two teenage girls at risk have suffered sexual abuse that directly affects the body with physical and emotional scars. These girls cannot be physically touched, emotionally they feel ashamed of their bodies and do not want to talk about what happened to them.
Body-psychotherapy, such as dance therapy is a perfect alternative to conventional “talk therapy”. Dance movement therapy ( DMT ) is a healing modality for our teenage girls who have been subjected to violence, such as sexual abuse. DMT strengthens the body/mind connection through body movements to improve both the mental and physical well-being of our girls and empowers them. Movement and emotion are directly related and DMT finds the healthy balance that is so greatly needed for Machol’s teenage girls’ at risk, for it creates a means of discharging aggression and reconnecting to their bodies.
Together, we are helping teenage girls at risk who arrive at Machol’s doorstep because they are in a crisis. Through Timora’s unique educational and therapeutic model we are giving these girls the needed tools to help them overcome their painful past and to build future resiliency and self-sufficiency.
Machol presents tailored programs based on trusting relationships between the girls at risk and Machol’s professional staff to help move the girls towards both healthy functioning and economic self-sufficiency as they transition to adulthood.
