Experience
Nissim Cheshbon’s experience.
Program leadership, team coordination, and continuity of care, with the person at the center of each. Nissim Cheshbon’s Retorno experience is a former role.
Founded and built the Alon program
Nissim Cheshbon founded the Alon detoxification program at Retorno and built it from the ground up. He subsequently directed this men’s inpatient unit for medically supported withdrawal. He no longer works at Retorno.
The role covered admissions, daily structure, staffing, and the atmosphere of the unit itself: a place where people arriving at their lowest point are treated with dignity and given a routine they can hold on to.
Multidisciplinary coordination
Detoxification depends on physicians, nurses, counselors, and social workers acting as one team. Each contributes something the others cannot.
His part was the coordination that makes that possible: shared priorities, clear handovers, and a single plan around each person. Diagnosis and prescribing remain with licensed clinicians.
Continuity of care
Withdrawal stabilizes the body. Lasting recovery needs a clear next step: residential rehabilitation, outpatient treatment, or community support.
He treats that next step as part of the work, not an afterthought. A good discharge is a handover, not a goodbye.
Public discussion
On 31 December 2023 he took part in the Knesset Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
He spoke to detoxification capacity, medically supported withdrawal, the teams that deliver it, and continuity into further treatment, adding a frontline perspective to a wider policy conversation.
Individuals, marriages, families
His wider work reaches people of every age facing addiction and mental-health challenges, and the partners and families who live alongside them.
Standing alongside people as they find their footing again after addiction: routine, work, relationships, and a sense of direction.
Recognizing that addiction reaches a whole household, and making room for spouses and families as people work to restore trust at home.
Further detail
Media & SourcesRecovery, community & accountability
The 12-step approach in recovery.
Detox is where recovery starts; mutual support is often how it continues. Twelve-step fellowships are one of the most familiar routes. Its themes include honesty, reflection, personal responsibility, spiritual growth, and helping others.
Plain-language summaries of the Alcoholics Anonymous framework. Peer support complements professional treatment rather than replacing it, and it is not the right fit for everyone.
01Acknowledging the problem
Recognizing that addiction has become unmanageable and that help is needed.
02Opening up to help
Being open to a source of hope and support beyond individual willpower.
03Accepting guidance
Choosing to seek guidance from a higher power as personally understood, a spiritual element of the original framework.
04Taking an honest inventory
Reflecting on personal patterns, responsibilities, and the effects of past behavior.
05Sharing honestly
Discussing that reflection with a trusted person, with openness and accountability.
06Becoming ready for change
Developing willingness to let go of patterns that cause harm.
07Practicing humility
Asking for help in making meaningful changes rather than relying only on self-sufficiency.
08Recognizing harm
Considering who has been affected and developing willingness to make amends.
09Making appropriate amends
Repairing harm where possible, while avoiding actions that would cause further injury to anyone.
10Continuing self-reflection
Reviewing behavior regularly, acknowledging mistakes, and taking responsibility.
11Maintaining reflective practice
Using prayer or meditation, as understood within the framework, to support reflection and direction.
12Supporting others
Sharing recovery experience and applying these principles in everyday life.
Inquiries
Contact Nissim Cheshbon
Professional collaborations, interviews, and speaking inquiries.