Sheba Trauma Experts Support Australian Jewish Community After Bondi Beach Incident

Sheba Medical Center trauma specialists have traveled to Sydney, Australia, to support the Australian Jewish community following the December 14 Chanukah incident at Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead.

Drawing on their extensive experience treating survivors of the October 7 attacks and returned hostages in Israel, Sheba’s team is providing critical on-the-ground trauma support and consultation.

Supporting Community Recovery After the Bondi Beach Incident

This was the first time Sheba’s trauma specialists had traveled to a Jewish community outside Israel to offer direct, on-the-ground trauma support, reflecting Sheba’s growing commitment to extending its world-renowned trauma care model globally. The delegation, led by Dr. Naama de la Fontaine, Dr. Jana Porat, Shani Or-Noy, and Tamar Silber, worked with schools, mental health professionals, and community organizations to strengthen local responses to trauma.

The team’s mission was not to replace Australian services, but to enhance them by sharing practical frameworks, training educators and clinicians, and working alongside local professionals. This ensures that knowledge, confidence, and capacity remain within the community long after the delegation returns home.

Applying Frontline Trauma Expertise Beyond Israel

In Sydney, the delegation focused on listening, validating experiences, and strengthening resilience in a community shaken by violence but bound together by solidarity. Tamar Silber, senior mental health and rehabilitation professional at Sheba, highlighted the reciprocal nature of global Jewish support:

“We all felt after October 7 we had the support of the Jewish community around the world and that really helped us to not feel alone. By coming here we also wanted to show the Jewish community that we’re in this together.”

This visit underscores how the same compassion that flowed toward Israel after October 7 now returns outward, as Sheba’s teams help other communities navigate their own moments of crisis.

Strengthening Resilience Through Shared Community Support

For Dr. Jana Porat, senior clinical psychologist and Director of the Virtual Psychology Clinic at Sheba Beyond, the mission to Australia was a natural extension of Sheba’s global engagement: “We feel we are part of the same community, the same people. Our goal is to empower the community.”

Porat emphasized that resilience begins with honest, open conversations, particularly with children who may struggle to process what they’ve seen or heard. She stressed the importance of encouraging questions, legitimizing emotions, and creating space for grief, fear, and confusion. “Healing from trauma is feeling,” she said, capturing a core principle of trauma-informed care.

Supporting Children Through Developmentally Appropriate Care

As founder of Sheba’s Children’s Trauma Clinic and head of the Pediatric Anxiety Clinic, Dr. Naama de la Fontaine has witnessed firsthand the emotional shockwaves of October 7 across generations. She stressed the importance of speaking with children in age-appropriate ways that match their language and emotional capacity.

Conversations must be honest but measured, offering information without overwhelming children, and always framed within a sense of safety and support. “When children, and adults, avoid trauma reminders their world becomes limited,” she said. For de la Fontaine, helping children name and integrate their experiences is essential to healing.

“Part of the work that we do for all children is that memories can’t hurt you. They can be painful, but they’re not dangerous. Putting the past in the past is the first step towards moving forward.”

A Message of Hope and Post-Traumatic Growth

Shani Or-Noy, an expert rehabilitation psychologist at Sheba, shared a message of hope grounded in Sheba’s experience working with returned hostages, injured civilians, and soldiers following October 7:

“We see from working with the hostages who came back, and also the soldiers and people who were hurt on October 7, that there is post-traumatic growth. This is very important to know.”

Or-Noy explained that while trauma is deeply painful, it can also lead to strengthened personal values and deeper human connections. “Often you get more strength. You understand what is important for you, you make deeper connections, and you feel more loved and bring more love to the world,” she said. “This is something I found out in Israel, and I hope your community will also find out this is what can happen.”

A Shared Commitment to Healing and Resilience

hrough this visit, Sheba Medical Center embodied a core Jewish principle that the Jewish nation is one people, one community, bound together even across borders. When violence wounds one Jewish community, others answer the call with expertise, presence, and open hearts, sharing strength where it’s needed most.

By bringing lessons learned from Israel’s darkest days to Sydney’s grieving community, Sheba’s team helped create a bridge of mutual care that honors loss, nurtures resilience, and keeps hope firmly in view. In doing so, Sheba continues to grow its role as a global partner in healing, standing shoulder to shoulder with Jewish communities worldwide.