Anxiety, anger, stress and sleepless nights.
They are all common behaviors experienced by military veterans, particularly those engaged in combat. These soldiers have experienced trauma. That is especially true for Israel Defense Forces soldiers tasked with rooting out Hamas in Gaza’s dangerous, compressed urban environment.
Earlier this year, an innovative program offered a respite to a group of Israeli soldiers. Known as Healing in Nature (HiN), the initiative combines technology and a remote wilderness location as therapeutic tools. The setting is northern Montana, but its origin can be traced to St. Louis 16 years ago. That was when Adam Wallis heard Rabbi Nir Barkin speak at Temple Israel. Barkin is member of the clergy in Yozma, Israel, a sister congregation to TI.
“I really connected with him and we became really good friends,” said Wallis, who was a TI board member at the time. “He started staying with us when he came into town.”
In 2001, Wallis first visited the K Bar L Ranch, located 120 miles south of the Canadian border. His father, the late Bill Wallis, founder of the Wallis Companies, discovered the ranch when he was invited there by ExxonMobil.
Adam and his wife, Emily, now run the ranch. It is truly remote, seven miles from the nearest road and accessible only by foot or horseback. The scenery is also breathtaking. Fresh mountain air and whistling winds proved the perfect antidote a young IDF soldier who had just completed his military service during Operation Protective Edge. The soldier was Omri Barkin (Rabbi Barkin’s son). Barkin flew to the K Bar L Ranch to decompress. He quickly learned essential skills, including how to pack a mule and saddle a horse.
“It was just an amazing experience,” Barkin said. “It really healed my soul. Being up there with the horses, the wilderness, you’re completely disconnected from Wi-Fi, with no reception. I felt much better after everything I went through in my military service. And I wanted to share that experience with my buddies.”
That epiphany led Barkin to develop HiN. In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, he arranged for 15 IDF soldiers to spent one week at the ranch to have the same experience. In order to qualify, the soldiers were screened through an initial psychological evaluation. The weeklong session in June 2024 also brought four therapists to assist in the therapy.
“I knew they were going to need some help with their mental health,” Barkin said. “When you are working with people who have gone through trauma, there are two options. You can either grow from it or go to a darker place. We’re just trying to help them kind of process everything and grow from whatever they went through.”
During the HiN week at the ranch, the soldiers began each day at 6:30 a.m. with a cold plunge. Exposure to cold temperatures helped teach the participants controlled breathing. That was followed by a group session led by a psychologist. Much of the week was spent simply experiencing nature. Smartphones were prohibited, but with no cell coverage, they’d be useless, anyway. There was one high-tech tool: a “smart-ring” that tracked the soldier’s biofeedback measurements. The data was then analyzed by Barkin’s HiN support team at Cambridge University and used to create a long-term care plan.
During the week at the ranch, the soldiers had the time and space to block out distractions and achieve a level of calmness, according to Emily Wallis.
“When the soldiers were there, the one thing they all said when they walked onto the property was that they felt safe,” she said. “They were able to shut out noise and hear and see and taste things that they usually couldn’t do because of all the distractions. They could really unpack all that and were able to really feel and ground themselves.”
Adam Wallis said he was moved by seeing the transformation.
“It was really impactful for me,” Wallis said. “Given what they had just gone through in Gaza and where they’ve been, you saw the real impact that Mother Nature and wilderness has. The other thing that was so amazing was to see how they were able to open up. They sat in the main lodge, and they had their arms around each other. They were able to connect with each other and understand each other better, which was just amazing.”
Barkin also witnessed the impact of the session, and recognized it was as beneficial to his comrades in arms as it was when he first made the trip to Montana.
“We understand that a week in Montana, while it’s amazing, it’s not enough, so we have an alumni community that continues to stay in touch with the soldiers, and supports them with whatever they need,” he said. “It can be help with school, babysitting, or support systems. We really provided them a variety of therapeutic methods. Some continued doing an ice bath, meditation and the breathing methods. We tried to provide the tools at the beginning and then support them with whatever we can afterwards.”
Barkin is now engaged in a fundraising effort, so he can continue HiN’s work and take additional IDF soldiers to Montana. He has already planned for three additional groups to go in June 2025. He is based in Tel Aviv, and during Rosh Hashanah, Barkin came to St. Louis to visit the Wallis family. They are more than happy to continue hosting the soldiers at K Bar L Ranch. Emily Wallis said “It was incredible to watch their growth.” Adam Wallis said “We have a super passion for Israel. When Omri called us with this idea, it was a no-brainer for us to say yes.”
