The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel
Mission
To ensure that all Israelis, experiencing a wide variety of life’s crises, can receive accessible, professional spiritual care.
Main Activities
The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel is the primary professional body overseeing the standards for care provision, working to develop service provision in the field, and bringing professionals together for peer learning and support.
Professional oversight:
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Ongoing development of standards for training, clinical work, and supervision
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Accreditation process for training programs
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Providing professional certification for graduates found to be at the necessary level of competencies
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Ethics committee
Developing service provision in the field:
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Working with governmental and nonprofit service providers to introduce and ensure ongoing spiritual care provision for populations with diverse needs
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For example: patients and family members during illness and at the end of life; bereaved families; support for health care providers; elderly individuals in their homes and in nursing facilities
Professional development
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Platform for offering opportunities for continuing education
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Ongoing groups for study and clinical supervision
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Developing formal and informal relationships with parallel organizations around the world
Vision
We are taking the lead on advancing professional spiritual care. We are working to strengthen the public’s recognition of spiritual care as a vital service and to gain formal governmental recognition as a profession, in order to enable all of Israel’s diverse populations to benefit from high-level care. The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel operates with transparency, mutual respect, and openness. We aim to see spiritual care integrated widely into medical institutions and community-based services, freely available for all. We work to create a supportive learning community for spiritual care providers to strengthen them in their important and challenging work.
Main Achievements and Current Areas of Activity
Since its founding in 2014, the Association for Spiritual Care in Israel (ASCI) has played a central role in establishing professional spiritual care as a recognized field of practice in Israel. ASCI has developed national standards for training, clinical practice and supervision, as well as a professional code of ethics. It accredits training programs and certifies spiritual care practitioners through an independent professional review process. Since its inception, seven training sites were accredited by ASCI and approximately 300 practitioners have been certified. Many work in more than 20 hospitals, elder-care settings, community services and bereavement programs throughout Israel.
Alongside its role in developing and regulating the profession, ASCI works to expand access to spiritual care for people facing serious illness, trauma, bereavement, aging and other major life crises. A central part of this work is developing pilot programs in partnership with health and social-care organizations, with the aim of integrating spiritual care into existing systems and, where possible, establishing sustainable institutional funding.
Recent initiatives include home-based spiritual care for socially isolated older adults referred through Clalit Health Services geriatric clinics; spiritual care within mental-health and rehabilitation services for IDF veterans; and integration of spiritual care into Sheba Medical Center’s “Returning to Life” clinics for veterans coping with the effects of war and trauma.
ASCI members have also expanded spiritual care for women and families coping with high-risk pregnancy, pregnancy loss, stillbirth, premature birth and prolonged NICU hospitalization (Gachliliot initiative). In 2026, certified spiritual care practitioners began working in this field in four Israeli hospitals.
Other initiatives have introduced spiritual care into community mental-health settings, including Balancing Homes, and developed support workshops for medical teams coping with grief, stress, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. In several cases, successful pilot programs have subsequently been adopted and funded by the participating institutions themselves.
An important milestone in the recognition of the profession has been the inclusion of spiritual care among the services available to eligible families through the Ministry of Defense Department for Bereaved Families and the National Insurance Institute’s Department for Victims of Hostile Actions.
Spiritual care is also provided to people whose family members have died as a result of accidents, suicide or homicide, through a program operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.
ASCI is committed to making professional spiritual care accessible across Israel’s diverse communities. This includes promoting services and professional training in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian and working to ensure that language, culture, and religious or secular identity do not become barriers to receiving care.
The Association also promotes research and the development of an evidence base for spiritual care. In recent years, several studies led by spiritual care practitioners have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Among the leading contributors is Mike Schultz of Rambam Health Care Campus, who has led and collaborated on a series of research and evaluation studies, particularly in serious illness.
Board members
Gal Sadot
SCP-C and co-chairperson of the Association. Member of the board since 2021. Works as SCP in the hospice of Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital. In parallel, works as the head of customer service and training supervisor at Dada Coffee.
Nirit Ulitzur
SCP-C and Association board member since 2022. Academic background in biology research (PhD from Life Sciences Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and postdoc studies at the Biochemistry Department in Stanford Medical School). Over 20 years experience in environmental monitoring entrepreneurship. Cofounder and member of Bait-La-Ruach - a center for spiritual care. Works part time at the spiritual care service in Rambam Hospital.
Mati Halperin
SCP-C Spiritual Care Practitioner and Member of the Board of Directors (since July 2026). Provides spiritual care at Beit Rivka, a nursing and rehabilitation hospital, and through B’Shiva Bria. A certified mindfulness and meditation instructor, Mati holds a Master’s degree in Biology and Ecology and is a former member of Israel’s security services
Irit Bratman
SCP-C and co-chairperson of the Association since 2026. Holds an BA degree in Organizational Behavior Studies. A certified coach. Previously served as a member of the management team and as Head of Human Resources in Hazera- Seeds Co. Today serves as chairperson of Gderot elderly daycare center.
Nava Tal
SCP-C and member of the Association board since 2024. Educator who served in a variety of senior management positions in local authorities (MSc in education), facilitates groups, accompanies women dealing with severe and chronic illness, dementia, old age, loss and bereavement, supports women dealing with breast cancer.
Hiyam Mahamid
SCP-C Social Worker, Emotional Therapist, and Spiritual Care Practitioner with 33 years of experience in the therapeutic and social services fields. Over the course of her career, she has gained extensive experience working with children, adolescents, women, families, and communities, providing both individual and group support and leading therapeutic and social processes.
She has extensive experience working with crisis and trauma, fostering personal and community resilience, arts-based therapy, group facilitation, and spiritual care. She brings a wealth of professional experience, a deep understanding of community needs and on-the-ground realities, and a strong social and community-oriented perspective
Nir Golan
SCP-C and member of the Association board since 2021. Works as spiritual caregiver in “healthy aging”. Expert in Leading Tech Developers, Architects and Organization changes. A facilitator & trainer of managers and leaders for over 30 years.
Valerie Stessin
Chaplain (SCP-C certified in Israel and BCC in the USA by NAJC), Spiritual Care Educator (SCE-C) and Association Board Member (2015 to 2018 and from 2026). Conservative Rabbi and Educator (MA), co-founder and Director of Kashouvot – the Center for Spiritual Care in Israel. Valerie is training Spiritual Caregivers in the Mashiv HaRuah CPE courses since 2016 through the Schwartz Center for Health and Spirituality and Kashouvot Association
Orit Gavrieli
Administrative Coordinator and the organization's only salaried employee (part-time). A Social Sciences student and an active volunteer with the ELA Association, which works to provide comprehensive support for parents and infants in Israel during the earliest stage of life.