Rehabilitative GNT_Healing_Dolphin Workshops for Hostage Survivors and Their Supporting Family Members
A three-day intensive rehabilitation workshop, offering a safe and supportive space for healing through unique body–mind–consciousness (GNT) experiences. Designed for small groups of 12 participants, the workshop combines process-oriented interactions with dolphins and guided reflection to introduce practical tools for emotional regulation in everyday life.
The Dolphin Reef in Eilat is one of the few places in the world where unconditional encounters take place between free dolphins living in the open sea and the humans they choose to approach. With over 30 years of experience, the Reef has demonstrated that such voluntary encounters initiated by the dolphins—foster profound emotional experiences, encourage calmness, and promote long-term motivation and personal resilience. This is a rare, holistic experience —unparalleled anywhere in the world—which forms the foundation for a powerful and lasting therapeutic process.
Trauma doesn’t end when the headlines fade. The body remembers.
Life goes on, but differently.
Goals of the GNT Experiential-Therapeutic Model:
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To promote resilience, emotional well-being, and motivation.
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To enable somatic (body-based) emotional processing of trauma.
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To reinforce a sense of belonging and restore feelings of capability among survivors.
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To strengthen supportive family relationships for those alongside survivors.
🌊 What's Included?
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Dolphin Encounters – Surrendering to the unique experience of being approached by dolphins.
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Water Balancing Sessions – Sessions for physical and emotional balanced relaxation.
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Body–Mind–Consciousness – Mindful activities for expression, release & grounding.
🧠 Why It Works?
“The body remembers what the mind forgets”, J.L. Moreno
Trauma is imprinted in the body. Recovery also requires somatic experiences that help reconnect, release and rebuild. The GNT model gradually reintroduces trust, and capability within the body, soul and mind.
💙 Supported by Donations:
Each three day #GNT_Healing_Dolphin workshop for hostage survivors and immediate family costs $15,000.
Each workshop serves up to twenty participants (Approximately $1000 per participant), Special programming for children of hostage families.
Our goal is to host 10 more workshops through 2025.
This price covers: Transportation to Eilat and within Eilat, Accommodations, Food, Professional staff, such as: trauma psychologist, diving instructors, water therapy instructors and other professionals as needed.
No overhead—just healing.
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Read more:
Professional Rationale
Meaningful experiences are stored in the body. Research shows that effective trauma recovery and post-traumatic growth require not only cognitive and emotional processing, but also somatic engagement. Trauma is "recorded" in the body; therefore, any true rehabilitation must include the body in the healing journey—especially when unprocessed trauma resides in physical memory.
The GNT Association’s model is based on physical experiences that allow for identification, acknowledgment, and emotional processing. Each physical activity is labeled and contextualized to allow personal reflection and meaning-making.
Activities in the #GNT_Healing_Dolphin Workshop are built around a "strands model"—a gradual progression that ensures a safe and adaptive pace for each participant. The focus is on building safety, agency, and positive bodily experiences that nurture adaptability and the courage to absorb new feelings of security and self-efficacy.
GNT Combines Opposing Yet Complementary Experience Types to Build Resilience:
Active: Activities that demand full motor attention, offering a mental break from trauma-related thoughts and emotions - water interactions alongside the dolphins.
Passive: Deep relaxation in warm water with therapeutic touch and calming underwater sounds. A healing experience of surrender, trust, and sensory calm - Water balancing.
Combining structured experiences (guided movement, challenge-based activities) with intuitive emotional expression (writing, creative arts). These allow both structured focus and spontaneous emotional insight, opening pathways to healing.
Balancing individual coping with the power of group support. The workshop maintains a close-knit atmosphere of participants undergoing positive transformation together.
🤝 Known Impact:
✔ Immediate emotional relief
✔ Strengthened resilience
✔ Increased motivation for long-term healing
✔ Improved family dynamics
Working with The Families
Beyond the survivors themselves, we’ve seen powerful effects when working with their families—their daily caregivers and emotional anchors. Family members carry immense emotional burdens, and without proper support, they may break under the strain. If they collapse—who will hold the survivors, especially those returning in complex conditions?
Privacy and Funding
GNT Association workshops are strictly confidential. They are intentionally kept out of the public eye to ensure a sense of privacy and emotional safety for participants.
💧 What did we do till now?
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Daily activities for hundreds of men, women and kids that went through the horrors of October 7th.
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Five unique workshops as described above, designed especially for hostage survivors and immediate family, with over 50 participants.
💙 O, Hostage Survivor, Released in February 2025 after 491 days in hostage, joined a workshop in May 2025:
"At first, diving was hard. I felt like I couldn’t breathe—just like being in the tunnels. There was barely any air there; our lungs adapted to breathing less. We were six people in a tiny cage, breathing each other’s air. It felt the same. I signaled to the instructor to take me up, and he did—and that gave me confidence. When we went down again, I felt the pressure rising… and then Nana, the dolphin, came. She moved so gracefully — and that was it. I let go. I forgot I was even diving. It was amazing. What a creature!",
JOIN US,
HEALING BEGINS HERE.
Project leaders:
Sophie Donio, Head Therapist at the Dolphin Reef and Yael Turner Grossman, GNT CEO
