Akim-Jerusalem was founded in 1951 and provides “in-the-community” housing for people with mental disabilities and other developmental disorders of all ages and functioning. At the moment, it operates 3 hostels and 15 apartments in the city of Jerusalem, housing 153 residents. Our clients are referred to us by local and regional welfare agencies and the large majority of them originate from below average, low-income families. The average age of our residents is approaching 50 and the parents of many of them are no longer alive.

Although part of their care is funded by the Ministry of Welfare, leisure time activities, further education and specialized para-medical services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc., are not covered by the government. As a consequence Akim-Jerusalem must raise extra-budgetary money for these services from outside sources.

AKIM-Jerusalem has, since its inception, preferred to provide support to families who continue to care for their children with disabilities at home, rather than encouraging their institutionalization, an approach often propagated and practiced by the government.

AKIM-Jerusalem’s Family Support Center includes a Respite Care program to which children come for anything from a few hours to several days at a time, giving their families a chance to “re-charge their batteries”. For those families who cannot send their children out to the Respite Center, we provide Home Care support of at least two hours a week. This service allows quality, one-on-one time with the member of the family who has mental disabilities by care-providers trained, supervised and monitored by AKIM-Jerusalem.

The association also runs two extended school day programs at the Ben Yehuda School of Special Education and a third at its Respite Care Center. The children that attend these programs are aged 10-14 with medium to serious mental disabilities. Several of the children in the group also have autism and all have severe behavioral problems. For the parents of these children private care is usually well beyond their means and there are very few options run by the State if they want to work a full-day.  The aim of this project is to give these children a rich and diversified leisure curriculum, which encourages mental, emotional and physical development. The program is open five days a week from 2-6 p.m. and includes different workshops on such topics as: arts and crafts, caring for pets, games, singing and movement, all of which are designed as enrichment experiences for the children.

We also run a Training Apartment where teenagers and young adults come to stay for a day at a time. Over 15 weeks these participants learn the skills they will need when they finally leave the family home and move into sheltered housing. They also acquire the tools they will need for when they go out into the working world

Other projects run by the Family Support Center include Siblings’ and Parents’ Support groups, Job Opportunity Advice service and Family Counselling Services.