Safe Heart

Safe Heart (Hebrew: לב בטוח, "Lev Batuaḥ") is an Israeli mental-health non-profit association founded in October 2023, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led terror attacks on the Nova, Psyduck and Midburn music festivals in southern Israel. It was created by a group of clinicians, trauma specialists and psychedelic harm-reduction practitioners who were themselves part of the Israeli trance and festival community. Its mission is to provide free, long-term, trauma-informed and psychedelic-aware psychological care to the thousands of partygoers who survived the attacks, many of whom were under the influence of LSD, MDMA or ketamine when the violence unfolded. The organisation grew out of an emergency response: within hours of the attacks on 7 October 2023, its founders circulated a registration form for initial psychological support, and by the following day a dedicated website and a treatment-coordination system were operating. Initially known as "Nova Help", it was renamed Safe Heart and registered as an association (amutah). It rapidly assembled a network of several hundred volunteer therapists — clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, art therapists, psychotherapists and clinical instructors — experienced in severe trauma and in psychedelic harm reduction. Safe Heart operates nationally across Israel. It offers individual depth psychotherapy of at least one year per patient, group processes and retreats, and a support framework for survivors' families. It also runs a dedicated psychiatric and emergency-response team. The organisation reports treating around 1,000 survivors in active long-term care, with a network of roughly 400 therapists, and it has delivered tens of thousands of treatment hours. It is a member of the Israeli Trauma Coalition and is recognised as a national resilience centre (Merkaz Ḥosen), working with the Ministry of Health, the National Insurance Institute (Bituaḥ Leumi) and the Ministry of Welfare, including as a mental-health service provider under the national "Ḥarada" (anxiety) procedure. Beyond direct care, Safe Heart conducts research. In partnership with the University of Haifa, it leads what it describes as the world's first study of how extreme trauma is experienced and processed while under the influence of psychoactive substances, combining questionnaires, interviews, heart-rate and sleep monitors, saliva samples and MRI scans over a three-year period. A first paper reporting on a cohort of 772 Nova survivors was published in World Psychiatry in September 2025. The organisation is funded by donations, which it states are directed entirely to long-term mental-health assistance for festival survivors.

Safe Heart was founded in October 2023 in response to the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, in which thousands of young people attending outdoor trance festivals in southern Israel — including the Nova (Nova-Mashroom), Psyduck and a Midburn community event — came under sustained terrorist attack. According to the organisation's account, more than 4,400 people were at the festivals; around 399 festival participants were killed and 43 were taken hostage. Many survivors were under the influence of psychedelics such as LSD, MDMA and ketamine, which intensified and complicated the traumatic experience and created a need for mental-health care attuned both to trauma and to altered states of consciousness. The founding group — Guy Simon, Yair Greenbaum, Yigal Tartakovsky, Tal Zagorsky, Nir Tadmor, Karina Desau, Roy Salomon and Reut Plonsker — came from the fields of therapy, trauma and psychedelic harm reduction, and were deeply familiar with the festival community. Some were nationally and internationally recognised experts in managing mental-health emergencies in psychedelic settings. They had previously worked to advance harm reduction in Israel, including parliamentary advocacy, and had been active in organisations such as Hof Mivtaḥim (Safe Shore), Safe-zone, Impulse and the University of Haifa. On the morning of 7 October 2023, as the scale of the disaster became known, the group made contact and concluded that survivors needed a response that did not yet exist in Israel: one combining trauma expertise, deep familiarity with altered states and a safe, non-judgmental space. By midday on 7 October a registration form for initial psychological support had been circulated, and hundreds of clinically trained therapists from the community — experienced in trauma and familiar with the party and psychoactive-substance world — joined to provide assistance entirely voluntarily. By 8 October, less than 24 hours after the attacks began, a dedicated website and a treatment-coordination system were operating, connecting hundreds of therapists with thousands of survivors. In parallel, the organisation helped establish a therapeutic community space at Havat Ronit. During October 2023, under its earlier name "Nova Help", the initiative assembled around 500 therapists and specialist professionals. In the first two weeks, therapists provided voluntary acute-intervention treatment to approximately 2,500 festival survivors, aiming to reduce harm and prevent long-term PTSD. The organisation was subsequently renamed Safe Heart (לב בטוח) and registered as an Israeli association (amutah). Safe Heart developed a professional model centred on long-term, trauma-informed and psychedelic-aware care. It offers individual depth psychotherapy of at least one year per survivor, delivered by a national network of licensed clinicians — clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, expressive and creative arts therapists and clinical social workers — all experienced in severe trauma and psychedelic harm reduction. A dedicated team handles extreme and emergency cases, alongside a dedicated psychiatric team drawn from the trance community. The organisation also provides support to soldiers who survived the festivals. Complementing individual therapy, Safe Heart established a retreat and group-process programme, based on clinical research emphasising the importance of group processing of trauma and the role of community in healing. Retreats are held in small, focused formats at several locations, including in partnership with Kfar HaMaccabiah, the Slonses compound at Kibbutz Moran, in the desert, and at the Secret Forest in Cyprus. The organisation also created a family-support framework with three circles of assistance: dedicated community spaces for family members, knowledge and tools for supporting their loved ones, and therapeutic groups to prevent secondary traumatisation. Safe Heart is a member of the Israeli Trauma Coalition and is recognised as a national resilience centre. It works with the Emek association, the Ministry of Health and the National Insurance Institute as a mental-health service provider for survivors of the festival massacre under the national "Ḥarada" (anxiety) procedure. It reports treating around 1,000 survivors in active long-term care, with a network of about 400 therapists, and states that it has delivered 75,000 treatment hours to survivors up to July 2026, held 24 retreats with partners across the country, and run 47 therapy groups for survivors' families. It also reports that around 3,000 survivors have received adapted psychological support. On the research front, Safe Heart leads a study with the University of Haifa under Professor Roy Salomon, a co-founder who directs a laboratory at the university. It is described as the first study of its kind in the world to examine how extreme trauma is experienced and processed when it occurs under the influence of psychoactive substances. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods — questionnaires, interviews, heart-rate and sleep monitors, saliva samples and MRI scans — repeated every few months over three years. In March 2025 a pre-publication reported findings from smartwatches worn by survivors for a full month, indicating that 54% developed severe PTSD symptoms after eight to eleven months, and that instability in daily sleep patterns and irregular heart-rate changes in the months after the trauma predicted the risk of developing severe PTSD. In September 2025 a first paper presenting initial results was published in World Psychiatry, reporting on a cohort of 772 Nova survivors; 72% reported taking psychoactive substances. The findings suggested that MDMA use before the trauma was associated with better sleep quality, improved social support and social interactions, and more positive clinical outcomes compared with those who experienced the trauma under other substances, and even compared with those who used no substances during the event. The organisation has also documented testimonies of sexual violence at the festival. According to Safe Heart, at least ten eyewitnesses saw rape, gang rape and sexual abuse at various points in the festival area, and their mental state did not allow them to be exposed publicly. The organisation's team cooperated with the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and her team, who examined the testimonies of sexual violence on 7 October as part of an investigation report published on 4 March 2024.

• 7 October 2023: Hamas-led attacks on Nova, Psyduck and Midburn festivals in southern Israel; founding group makes contact and begins emergency response.

• Midday 7 October 2023: registration form for initial psychological support circulated.

• 8 October 2023: dedicated website and treatment-coordination system launched, less than 24 hours after the attacks began.

• October 2023: under the name "Nova Help", around 500 therapists assembled; in the first two weeks, voluntary acute-intervention treatment provided to approximately 2,500 festival survivors.

• 2023: organisation renamed Safe Heart (לב בטוח) and registered as an Israeli association (amutah).

• 4 March 2024: UN investigation report on 7 October sexual violence published, based in part on testimonies examined with Safe Heart's cooperation.

• March 2025: pre-publication reports smartwatch findings; 54% of survivors developed severe PTSD symptoms after 8–11 months.

• September 2025: first research paper published in World Psychiatry, reporting on a cohort of 772 Nova survivors.

• By July 2026: 75,000 treatment hours delivered to survivors, 24 retreats held with partners, 47 therapy groups for survivors' families.

A community-rooted, non-judgmental mental-health response for festival survivors, combining clinical trauma expertise with psychedelic harm-reduction knowledge.

• Individual trauma-informed psychotherapy

  At least one year of one-on-one depth psychotherapy per survivor, delivered by licensed clinicians across Israel.

• Psychedelic-aware psychological support

  Care adapted for people who experienced trauma while under the influence of LSD, MDMA, ketamine or other substances.

• Retreats and group processes

  Small-group retreats and group therapy sessions held at multiple locations, including with partners in Israel and Cyprus.

• Family support framework

  Three circles of support for survivors' families: community spaces, knowledge and tools, and therapeutic groups to prevent secondary traumatisation.

• Psychiatric and emergency response team

  Dedicated team for extreme and emergency cases, including a psychiatric team drawn from the trance community.

• Clinical research on trauma and psychedelics

  Longitudinal study with the University of Haifa combining questionnaires, interviews, wearables, saliva samples and MRI scans.

1. 1SafeHeart | לב בטוח - תמיכה נפשית לנפגעי המסיבותsafeheartil.com
2. 2SafeHeart | אודות לב בטוחsafeheartil.com
3. 3What a Terror Attack in Israel Might Reveal About Psychedelics and Traumasafeheartil.com
4. 4Safe Heartwikidata.org
5. 5לב בטוחhe.wikipedia.org