The Jewish Community Mental Health Coalition has 3 main goals:
- Reduce the stigma of mental illness in the Jewish Community.
- Provide better access to resources to prevent suicide.
- Provide a place for people to go in the Jewish community for grief support that includes spiritual support.
What We’re Doing in the Community:
- Community-wide mental health survey: A survey was sent throughout the community to give the MHC a baseline understanding of attitudes toward mental illness. The results will be used to build an anti-stigma campaign.
- Clergy training: he MHC offered a well-attended training section for a cross-denomination group of Jewish Community clergy providing real-life tools for effectively helping with mental illness, suicide and grief and loss.
- Grief and loss seminar for those suffering the loss of a loved one: Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick and Mark Fenton, Hospice Chaplain, conducted a seminar for the entire community on October 27 incorporating critical information about the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical impact of grief and ways to move toward healing.
- On-going individual and family counseling
- Suicide prevention information distributed throughout the community
- Mental health resource list distributed throughout the community
- Family-to-Family classes: In conjunction with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), ongoing classes are open to the community to learn coping skills for families struggling with mental illness.
- Anti-stigma campaign: Attitudes toward mental illness create stigma for individuals and families coping with these issues. The MHC is undertaking a campaign to remove the stigma from mental illness and normalize how it is understood.
- Grief and loss support group: Beginning November 21, 2011, Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick and Vicki Cohen, Therapist, will lead a 7-part grief and loss support group providing the emotional and spiritual framework for dealing with grief.
Help by Completing the Mental Health Coalition Survey
The Jewish Community Mental Health Coalition is seeking input from people just like you and me about how mental illness impacts our lives, ourselves, our friends and families. If you have not already completed this completely anonymous survey, please click here to do so today. It takes just a couple of minutes, and the more responses we get, the better information we have. Give us a call at 913-327-8250 with any questions. Thanks for making your voice heard!
The piece below addresses concern #2, providing better access to resources to prevent suicide, listing warning signs and contacts for those needing help.
