A Community of Healing Comes Together in Crown Heights

Nitzolim, a pilot program of support groups and healing communities for survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), hopes to change the perspective and conversation around the topic.

Nitzolim – an organization creating a supportive and healing environment for survivors of CSA, is preparing to launch its pilot program in Crown Heights in the coming weeks. Nitzolim is led by a group of activists passionate about recovery from CSA, in partnership with Neshamos, the Crown Heights-based organization shattering stigmas around mental health.

Building off the successful fellowship model that continues to be a pillar of mental health healing across the spectrum, Nitzolim will be launching an initial set of 2 cohorts, one for men and women respectively. The cohorts will allow survivors exclusively from within the Crown Heights community, to join peer-to-peer support groups, led by licensed and trained facilitators. Nitzolim aims to bring connection, community, and camaraderie to those struggling with the chronic loneliness so often linked to survivors of CSA.

The bulk of the expenses for the project is being raised from Crown Heights donors, eager to see the issue addressed in our community, by our community. The Nitzolim cohorts are specifically being designed to be geared towards the unique needs of the Crown Heights community.

“It’s also our hope that by creating this sort of community and fostering these sorts of connections, we can also help our wider community see this issue differently, as strong networks of brother and sister survivors do their best to bring awareness and a perspective change to those stills struggling to understand the societal issue of childhood sexual abuse. ‘A rising tide lifts all boats’, and we sincerely hope that a stronger survivor community will create a more loving, welcoming and supportive wider community, and bring the needed hope and healing to survivors everywhere,” reads a paragraph on Nitzolim website, taken from a letter penned by the founders of Nitzolim, Rochel Leah Bernstein and Rabbi Avremi Zippel, both public survivors of CSA, and advocates for the issue in both the Crown Heights, and wider Frum community. Click here to view Avremi’s story.

Following the launch of the Crown Heights cohorts, the team at Nitzolim is working to create a second round of men and women’s groups on a digital platform, aimed at servicing the wider network of Shluchim and Shluchos serving their communities around the world.

The Nitzolim team is eagerly seeking members of the Crown Heights community who are passionate about mental health recovery and dealing with trauma from CSA, whether to serve in multiple needed volunteer roles, or to partner with us to make the project happen. For more information about the scope of the Nitzolim project, to meet the team, and to gain information of being part of the initial cohort, please visit Nitzolim.org.