Some 150 participants joined a seminar entitled "Support, supervision and treatment network for victims of sexual abuse in the community," which took place on November 23, 2006 at the Western Galilee - Nahariya Hospital, sponsored by Western Galilee Partnership 2000, the Rape Crisis Center, the Mateh Asher Regional Council, the IACC and MIFAM Western Galilee.

The program, which comprised six sessions, presented the audience with various aspects of treating victims of sexual assault by describing actual cases and clarifying the significance of the treatment staff's involvement in the legal process.

This seminar was initiated by the group "Mateh Asher Together," a wonderful voluntary action group consisting of seven women from Mateh Asher, who work in the community through Western Galilee Partnership 2000 - Central Area Consortium.  The group assisted in the Trauma Clinic during the war.

Out of a sense of commitment and a deep desire for change within the community, the group of volunteers asked the Hospital and the Haifa Rape Crisis Center to cooperate in producing this seminar as a first step towards establishing a rape crisis center in the Western Galilee.

Prof. Shaul Shasha, the Hospital's administrator, welcomed conference participants and the bodies sponsoring the event, adding that "This seminar is only the beginning of the work that must be done concerning an issue that has personal, emotional, social, criminal, legal and political ramifications."