About the director - Manya Ben-Ami
Ms. Manya Ben-Ami was born in the Netherlands. Early in life she pursued a dance career in ballet and modern dance, which brought her to the USA. Ms Ben-Ami married an Israeli businessman and is the mother of 4 children. She continued to work as a teacher and choreographer in NYC and Miami, Fla.
In the wake of personal experience with the problem of addiction, she became interested in the field of addiction treatment and recovery and decided to make this her next career choice,
The Ben-Ami family moved to Israel and Ms. Ben-Ami started her studies on the subject of addiction treatment at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and became a certified addiction treatment counselor as well as a group facilitator.
Ms. Ben-Ami has worked in the field of addiction treatment at some of the most prestigious treatment facilities in Israel over the past 20 years.
Her diverse expertise ranges from working in detox, through primary treatment and long-term rehabilitation.
She has worked with adults – both men and women – in the detox facility for adults of the Jerusalem Association for the war on drugs and at the drug rehabilitation day facility in Jerusalem for more than 6 years.
Ms. Ben-Ami has extensive experience in working with women, in particular as a group facilitator at the above facilities, and has been a group facilitator at Neve Tirtsa prison, Israel’s incarceration facility for women.
In addition she has worked with adolescents in Israel’s only detox facility for adolescents, "Magal-Lifta" in Jerusalem, as head of counseling staff for more than 7 years, as well as the day facility for adolescents Em HaDerech, a long-term treatment facility in Jerusalem as well.
Ms. Ben-Ami has conducted many seminars designed to enrich the knowledge of staff handling addiction problems at various institutions dealing with difficult populations.
Her ability to connect with people and create an atmosphere of trust has made her into well known figure in the field of addiction treatment in Israel.
Ms. Ben-Ami has been a speaker on the subject of addiction treatment on numerous occasions including a gathering on the subject of addiction hosted by President Ezer Weitzman at the Presidential residence in Jerusalem.
Manya Ben-Ami Phone 0523-679555