Miriam Ballin

Miriam Ballin is the Founder and National Director of the United Hatzalah Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit. Hailing originally from Houston, Texas, and San Francisco, California, Miriam spent five years in Australia before making Aliyah with her husband and children. She received her dual degree in Psychology and Education from Thomas Edison State College. After much early success in both classroom and informal education, Miriam felt drawn to explore psychology further, completing a degree in Family Therapy through Bar Ilan University, and is a practicing marital and family therapist, specializing in couples and trauma. Miriam has also accrued nine years of experience in Emergency Medical Services, first as a dispatcher and later as a certified Emergency Medical Technician, winning the United Hatzalah Outstanding Medic Award two years in a row, the first woman to achieve this feat. She was recognized the first year for her amazing number of responses- more than 100 in her neighborhood alone, and the second year for her incredible response time- just under two minutes. Among her other accolades, Miriam was recently featured in Ami Living Magazine, the Jerusalem Post and Israel National News, and was recognized by the organization Nefesh B’Nefesh for her true heroism in pioneering something as innovative and integral as the Psychotrauma Unit. After seeing and experiencing first-hand the dire need for psychological first aid and crisis intervention in the field, Miriam combined her passion for psychology, education and emergency medicine to become the founding Director of the United Hatzalah Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit.  The first fully integrated EMS psychotrauma unit providing immediate emotional support and stabilization at the scene of traumatic incidents alongside the medics treating the physically injured. Since it's founding, the unit has been recognized nationally by the parliament in Knesset and worldwide by the World Health Organization as a first of its kind. Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat, even mentioned that it "will soon be a standard addition to EMS worldwide". Miriam travels both as inspirational speaker to encourage other young women to follow their dream, and continues to guide and mentor many such women. To date, Miriam has delivered 26 babies and has successfully recusitated over 19 people.