“Failure is not an option — I found the winning formula.”

Only a woman with extraordinary inner strength turns her personal struggle as the mother of a child with special needs into a mission to help others. Yael Josephsberg, founder of Al HaRetzef — “On the Spectrum” — is working to build a respectful, dignified environment for people with special needs, and to bring them in as full members of the community.

Her third son, now 19½, was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. She says she left no stone unturned to find the services and support best suited to him — and out of that search the word tailored became her guiding principle: every person deserves support designed specifically for who they are.

That personal challenge grew into wide-ranging public work. For seven years she served as Chair of ALUT’s board, and took part in Knesset committees on special-needs populations. Together with the Tower of David Museum she received the prestigious Zero Project Award in Vienna (2023) for making the museum’s audiovisual presentation accessible to people with special needs — a project called Vision in Comfort.

Several years ago Yael founded Al HaRetzef, a practice that walks alongside families of children with special needs through a holistic, analytical support model. The first step, she explains, is not the child — it’s the family.

“Receiving an autism diagnosis is a life-changing event that affects everyone around the child. Before you can truly help the child, you have to stabilise the family,” she says. Parents may disagree on how to cope. Siblings struggle in their own ways. Grandparents often need guidance too. “When we received our diagnosis we were referred immediately to experts — but nobody checked how we were doing as a family. Only after the confusion settles can you begin to help the child effectively.”

From there the process moves to mapping the family’s needs and building a personalised plan.

Al HaRetzef builds an individualised path for each child and family. Families come at every stage — before a diagnosis, just after one, in the middle of a crisis, before entering an educational framework, before military service, or before a National Insurance Institute committee. Yael accompanies them through eligibility committees, National Insurance processes, and municipal services, and refers to trusted psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists and diagnostic centres.

The practice supports people facing a wide range of challenges — autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental-health conditions, learning disabilities, and eating disorders.

Yael’s mission is to improve the lives of people with special needs and their families, advance inclusion, and help build a society where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.