Reut - Intensive Care Closed Facility for Boys

The Re’ut (Hebrew for “friendship”) Home is a residential intensive treatment center for boys, ages 7-14, who suffer from severe emotional and behavioral disturbances as a result of core damage and neglect at the earliest stages of life.  Most of the boys act in a destructive and self-destructive manner as an expression of their deep-seated mistrust and suspicion which is a result of their past experience. Re’ut was created as a last-stop safety net for children who were rejected or expelled by all other institutions, and for whom the only remaining options are psychiatric hospitals or closed juvenile detention centers.

To help these boys build themselves up and gain positive tools for the future, Reut has developed a unique method of care through which each boy feels protected and secure. This, in turn, enables the boys to rebuild their trust in the world and those around them. Treatment is based on a very high staff-child ratio, which ensures that each child receives individual attention and tailored therapy on a daily basis. An in-house school helps these boys advance academically and become accustomed to a classroom framework. To ensure an intimate therapeutic environment, the boys are divided into age groups (with a maximum of 14 boys per group), each with its own living space, dining room, and playground. As some of these boys cannot return home at all, even for short vacations or weekend visits, Reut provides a structured environment offering care and supervision 365 days a year.

Reut was established in 1982 and, over the years, Orr Shalom has developed a very defined therapeutic approach which is implemented by dedicated, experienced staff. Re’ut has proven that these boys can turn their lives around. Once they have been treated at Re’ut and have reached the age of 14 or 15, the majority are ready for a less intensive, more normative framework. Some stabilize and advance enough to join our Therapeutic Family Group Homes.

In Re’ut, our children learn to understand themselves and their feelings, and to function in a manner that allows them to reintegrate into society, thereby preventing their return to a life of crime, incarceration, or hospitalization. In a follow-up study conducted two years after our first graduates completed treatment at Re’ut, the Ministry of Welfare found that 90% of the boys were still in normative programs and continuing to develop in a positive, healthy manner. Reut’s unique holistic methods prevent emotional and behavioral deterioration, and empower the boys to change the course of their future.

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