B.A. in Behavioral Sciences with a certificate of your choice:

The study program for the bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Sciences at Ono Academic College was built from the understanding of the special relationship between the behavioral sciences and the arts – and while examining the interrelationships between them and the behavior of the individual, society, and culture.

The program deals with human behavior and is expressed on three parallel levels: the individual (psychology), society (sociology), and culture (anthropology). The program combines theoretical and practical courses in the dimension of human behavior that is not always verbal and is expressed through the arts.

During the degree, you can choose a unique training. The choice is between training in the field of video therapy and the field of canine-assisted therapy.

Each training provides a professional certificate that is awarded after the completion of theoretical studies and practical experience. So that in addition to the bachelor’s degree, the professional certification allows integration into work in various fields of treatment and counseling with diverse populations through the tools of photography and video therapy or the canine-assisted therapy field.

What is Canine-Assisted Therapy?

If you love dogs, you’re in the right place! A dog is not only a man’s best friend but also a partner in therapeutic processes that help children, teenagers, and adults deal with the hardships they experience. A dog is a partner in the treatment and counseling process that helps to make a difference in people’s lives.

In this course, you will learn how to integrate a dog as a partner in therapy, acquire skills on how to establish a relationship between the dog and the patient, and learn how therapy using dogs helps with a variety of problems. The therapist’s work is carried out in front of patients who apply due to problems of attention and concentration disorders, social anxiety, emotional coping with social difficulties, integration, rehabilitation, and more.

The studies include theoretical learning, practice and practical experience in the kennel, and practicum experiences in the field with your own therapy dog. A professional training process accompanies the experience.

To be successful in the training, no prior knowledge is necessary, and everything needed to develop the skills will be learned within the unique program.

The practical experience is carried out at the kennel in Kfar Ma’as.

What is Video Therapy Studies?

Want to help people in crisis? Do you believe that people are capable of change? Have you felt the power of photography?

Then, Video Therapy Studies could be just the thing for you.

Come learn how producing and watching movies creates significant changes in the emotional and functional space and improves the quality of people’s lives.

Creating a script, filming, acting, and producing films are used as therapeutic, educational, and social means to help people in distress, crisis, or difficulty.

Upon completion, graduates will be able to integrate into education, therapy, and community settings – guide groups through video and film creation.

The studies include practical experience in the classroom, core theory studies, and a practicum in the field accompanied by Super Vision.

You will receive a professional certificate from the Sharon Israel Center. You will be able to integrate into this innovative and developing field for which the demand is increasing. The Sharon Israel Center is the oldest, largest, and most professional center that constitutes a professional video therapy community in Israel.

The Video Therapy Center operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. They are an active partner in the National Program for Children and Youth at Risk, operate therapeutic and educational programs of the Social Services Office and the Ministry of National Security, and run more than 200 video therapy groups each year for participants across the country.

To be successful in the training, no prior knowledge is necessary, and everything needed to develop the skills will be learned within the unique program.

* Upon completion of their studies, graduates of the study program can integrate into work at the Sharon Israel Center

* Subject to meeting professional standards and available quotas

What is Cooking Therapy Studies?

If you feel that cooking is your “therapy” and that a kitchen is a place for creativity and development, you have come to the right place!

In the last decade, the kitchen and cooking spaces have been viewed from an additional lens and are much more than a means to a meal. Cooking creates space for conversation and multicultural and multigenerational sharing and bridges connections between children, youth, and adults who face various challenges and difficulties. In the rehabilitative cooking training course, you will learn how to use cooking and baking to accompany these populations, promote them and contribute to their integration into society.

During your studies, you will receive tools for guiding individual and group cooking sessions to encourage social skills, attention, sensory and emotional regulation, and improve communication skills.

During the studies, the students will study central theories that establish the place of food in the infrastructure of the mind and relationships, the place of cooking in the sensorimotor experience, nutrition, and more.

The students in the program will acquire tools for the planned and responsible operation of various cooking activities with added value for developing life skills, social skills, and emotional regulation in the educational and rehabilitation frameworks with adolescent children and adults with special needs. Students will experiment with different materials and therapeutic processes in the kitchen through their studies.

The studies include a practicum and training.

The program is designed for:
Students with mental maturity, passion, and love for the kitchen who are looking to use the cooking tool to meet a variety of populations and accompany them to improve their quality of life.

* Acceptance is conditional on a personal interview

* It is not possible to accept first-degree family members to the same program

* This program is not appropriate for those currently dealing with an eating disorder

Among the subjects of study:

First year

• Introduction to Psychology
• Introduction to Sociology
• Introduction to Ecotherapy
• Social Change in the New Media
• At-Risk Children and Youth
• About Stories and Children
• Senior Studies
• Social Psychology
• The Person with a Disability in the Circle of Life
• Computer Usage and E-Learning
• Principles of Rehabilitation, Integration, and Recovery in Mental Health
• Descriptive Statistics
• Academic Literacy
• Tours and practical experience

Second year

• An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences
• Ethics in Mental Therapy
• Developmental Psychology
• Bibliotherapy
• Trauma and PTSD
• Personality Theories
• Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods
• Cultural Aspects of the Human Body

Third year

• An Introduction to Creativity in the Behavioral Sciences
• Art as a Therapeutic Tool
• The Healing Power of the Storytelling
• Art Experiences and Artistic Messages for Life 
• Physiological Psychology
• Social Psychology and Interpersonal Processes
• Gender and Society
• Psychopathology
• Domestic Violence
• Cognitive Psychology
• English (course according to the student’s level)

Choice between: Canine-Assisted Therapy, Video Therapy, or Cooking Therapy

Canine-Assisted Therapy – among the subjects of study

• Animal Care
• Dog-Assisted Treatment and Target Populations
• Practical Skill in Therapeutic Training
• Dog Care
• Introductions to Therapeutic Training

Video Therapy – among the subjects of study

• Writing, Directing and Producing Videos for Video Therapy
• The Basics of Video Therapy – an Introduction to a Practical Skill
• Video Editing as a Therapeutic Tool
• Therapeutic Video Editing
• Docotherapy
• Phototherapy

Cooking Therapy – among the subjects of study

• The Kitchen as a Multidisciplinary Space of Discourse and Change
• Sensory Exposure
• First Meals
• Recipes
• Cooking Ingredients
• Sensorimotor Aspects of Eating and Cooking
• Introduction to Early Childhood and Childhood Nutrition
• Introduction to Adolescent and Adult Nutrition
• Theory and Intervention Techniques in Cooking
• Cognitive Aspects of Cooking and Eating
• Playing with Food
• The Human Body in the Culinary Therapeutic Environment
• Your Kitchen

* Example curriculum and is subject to change

* Possibility to continue studying for an M.A. in Therapy Through the Arts, M.A. in Psychology, and more.