meet our team
Our Leadership Team
Our leadership team at Retorno supports your therapeutic team, and is totally focused on enabling successful addiction recovery. Building on almost three decades of commitment to recovery, Retorno offers you a chance to restart your life.
Rabbi Eitan Eckstein
CEO
Rabbi Eitan Eckstein is the founder and CEO of Retorno and one of the world’s most foremost experts on addiction. A social worker and horseback riding instructor, Rabbi Eckstein brings 25 years of experience in the treatment of addictions. With his warmth and deep understanding of people, Rabbi Eckstein is the heart and soul of Retorno’s many projects. Rabbi Eckstein is the author of It’s Your Move.
Professor Shlomo Eckstein z”l
BoardProfessor
Emeritus Chairman of the BoardProfessor Shlomo Eckstein is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Retorno.
He was President of Bar Ilan University between 1992-1996, and is a Professor of Economics at Bar-Ilan University. Professor Eckstein holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. In addition to his academic work, and his work at Retorno, he has been a member of the Board of Directors for: Prisoner’s Rehabilitation Center; Board of Governors, The Jewish Agency for Israel; Interregional Network on Privatization, United Nations Development Program (UNDP); United Mizrachi Bank, Israel Chemicals, Ltd.; Council for Higher Education; National Council for Research and Development; Executive Committee for the Introduction of Nuclear Power into Israel, Chair of Economic Appraisal Subcommittee; Negev Phosphates, Ltd.; Dead Sea Works, Ltd. He has served as Presidential Consultant to the Presidents of Mexico and Peru and U.N. Committees.
Isaac Zollman
Administrative Director
Isaac Zollman is the Administrative Director of Retorno. He served for 25 years in the IDF, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He founded, together with Rabbi Eitan Eckstein, Retorno’s center for addictions first in Mexico and then in Israel. Izik has a B.A. in general history from the University of Tel Aviv.
Rabbi Yoseph Chaim Mimran
CEO of OASIS RETREAT – Retorno
Rabbi Yoseph Chaim Mimran is the CEO of OASIS RETREAT – Retorno. The English branch of Retorno. Their function is to advise English speaking clients whom would benefit from spending time in Retorno Israel.
Rabbi Mimran is a prominent Torah Scholar and has established many different Torah
institutions in England and in Israel, including Kollel Hora’oh Law Academy for Torah Studies and Yeshivat Torat HaCheN for advance Kabbalistic Studies. He has extensive years of work and experience with Kids At Risk. He is an accomplished author and has published many Kabbalistic books in Hebrew and in English where he discusses the system of Kabbalah according to the famous masters of Kabbalah, the ARIZAL and RASHASH. Hundreds of his video and audio classes can be found online at www.Yeshivat HaCheN.com.
Professional
Therapeutic Staff
Elad Borovsky
Director of Adult Residential Program
Elad served as the director of an integrated treatment clinic with drug addiction for resistant addiction and dual-morbidity treatment. He is active in reaching out and preventing relapse using the motivational approach. Elad also specializes in mental health rehabilitation treatment. He received a BSW from Hebrew University and an MSW from Haifa University.
Dr. Baruch Labok
MD
Dr. Baruch Labok is our in-house psychiatrist at Retorno. He works extensively with both youth and adults.
In addition to Retorno, his staff appointments have included Hadassah Hospital (Ein Kerem), Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital, the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, Bayit Cham, the Talbiyeh Mental Health Center, and the community mental health clinic in Beit Shemesh.
Dr. Ellie Katz
PhD
Dr. Ellie Katz has over 40 years of experience, specializing in addictions and related disorders. Her eclectic therapeutic interventions feature meditation, psychodrama, guided thinking, and Bach flower remedies. She has been a leading practitioner of holistic psychotherapy for over thirty years. Born in New York in 1948, Dr. Katz moved to Israel in 1976, and joined the staff of Retorno in 2003.
She has lectured in Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (from 1977-
2000), and has published three books: When Sane People do Insane Things (Kibbutz
Hameuchad), My Last Summer as a Fat Girl (Kinneret Zimora Beitan), and Love and Kisses From My Padded Cell.
In addition to a PhD from New York University in Psycholinguistics, Dr. Katz holds
accreditation from the American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders
(2006), Tel Aviv University (1985-1986, two-year postgraduate program in Family Therapy), Israel Hypnosis Association (1986-1989, Medical Hypnosis), and the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in New York (1985, Full Time Clinical Practicum with Live Supervision). She is also a Certified Reflexologist and Massage Therapist, and a Certified Aroma Therapist.
Dr. Katz meditates daily, and brings calm and centeredness to clients.
Efrat Maayan
Clinical Psychologist
Efrat Maayan holds an M.S. degree in clinical psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At Retorno, Efrat directs Chiburim – Connections, Retorno’s animal assisted therapy program.
Efrat is an experienced clinical therapist with training in Jungian psychotherapy and posttrauma therapy. She has many years’ experience with youth-at-risk and adults-at-risk, trauma sufferers, behavior problems, and emotional and mental distress.
She has worked in the field of animal assisted therapy for over 20 years. Efrat also established a therapeutic petting zoo in the B’nei Brith center for children with behavior problems. She is one of the pioneers of animal assisted therapy in the rehabilitation of addicts and is considered one of Israel’s foremost experts in the field.
Vardit Vaknin
Director of Prevention & Outreach
Vardit Tzolman Vaknin has been Director of Retorno’s Prevention Program for 13 years. She Served in the army as an NCO of Welfare for three years. She studied business administration and tourism and is currently continuing her studies in psychology and education.
Prevention
and Outreach Team
Yehuda Liff, BSW, and Roy Gazit are active lecturers/presenters, taking the message of prevention out to the community.
Adult
Community Team
To find out more about our adult residential community at Retorno. Additional members of the adult community team include:
- Hai Hadad, Adult Community Director
- Yair Telgauker, Staff Coordinator
- Roy Katz, Therapeutic Coordinator
