Herzog College has won an important 5-year research grant from the European Union’s Horizon Fund to investigate how music therapy can be used to treat addicts suffering from Substance Abuse Disorder.
This ground-breaking international study involves a consortium of 14 centers in 8 European countries. In Israel, the project will be led by Herzog College and by Dr. Tali Gottfried, academic coordinator of the College’s Special Education MA program and lecturer in music therapy. Dr. Gottfried is also Israel’s representative at the European Music Therapy Confederation.
The FALCO research project stands for “Fighting Addiction through Lifestyle Change” and will explore the impact of either listening group or playing music group, as part of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation process. Dr. Gottfried will lead the Israeli site, in collaboration with Prof. Moshe Bensimon, an expert in criminology and rehabilitation from Bar-Ilan University. Their collaboration will focus on developing and validating a treatment protocol in music therapy for SUD patients, and supervising the work of music therapists in Israel.
This is a significant partnership between Herzog Academic College, Bar-Ilan University, and the European Union’s Horizon Fund. Horizon Europe has worked with Israel as an “Associated Country” on over 5,000 joint research programs since 1996.