MESH-EE January ’24: Helping Jewish Educators Understand Mental Health

Updated on: November 9, 2023

MESH-EE January ’24: Helping Jewish Educators Understand Mental Health

Dates: January 30, 2024

Cost: $180 (Sliding Scale Payment Options Available)

Location: Virtual

Course Details

Jewish communal professionals are uniquely situated to create positive environments where not only Jewish learning, but also mental health and well-being, can flourish. This cohort-based program is designed to support professionals who work with Jewish teens and young adults in expanding their understanding of mental health and wellness through an experiential approach and a Jewish lens, in order to actively promote resilience and help their students thrive.

By participating in MESH-EE (Mental, Emotional, and Social Health Through Experiential Education), teen and young adult-facing engagement professionals build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to:

Promote healthy social and emotional development for the populations that they serve.
Recognize when youth and young adults are at risk of experiencing mental health challenges.
Intervene early and appropriately when mental health challenges arise.
Explore connections between Jewish tradition and mental health and wellness.
Create Jewish educational experiences through a whole-health wellness lens.

Who It’s For

This course is designed for youth and young adult-serving Jewish community professionals interested in expanding their understanding of mental health, wellness, and experiential learning in order to better support their students and actively promote social and emotional growth. This course is open to a national audience. If you are interested in a local cohort or bringing this content to your organization please contact us using our Request More Info Form, and someone from the BaMidbar team will be in touch.

Itinerary

This course is designed as a cumulative, 4-part, cohort-based experience and includes synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for engagement. The group will meet weekly for 2 hours per session during the month of January. Classes will convene on Tuesdays from 3:00pm-5:00pm EST and begin on January 9th, 2024. Optional drop-in office hours will be held weekly on Thursdays from 1:00pm-2:00pm for the duration of the program. Weekly programming labs are offered as guided opportunities for independent study, encouraging participating professionals to think about how they might apply the content covered in the course to their particular context. Participants are also invited to meet regularly with a chevrutah (learning partner) outside of class to work together on finding ways to implement learning.

Session Topics and Content Include:

Session 1 (1/9/24): What’s Jewish About Wellness?

Mental Health vs. Mental Wellness
Judaism & Whole-Health Wellness
Protective Factors & Risk Factors in Jewish Tradition

Session 2 (1/16/24): Meeting Students Where They Are on the Mental Health Continuum

Mental Health through a DEI Lens
Stress, Anxiety, and Trauma
Suicide Prevention

Session 3 (1/23/24): Moving Students from Languishing to Flourishing

Facilitating for Resilience
Positive Psychology and Strengths-based Facilitation
Building Motivation

Session 4 (1/30/24): Keeping Things Moving for Our Students and Ourselves

What does this content mean for you as an educator?
Programming Lab Space
Applying Content on the Ground

Registration Details

Please register using the form below. Feel free to reach out to Emily Heeren at EmilyH@BaMidbarTherapy.org with any questions.

MESH-EE January ’24: Helping Jewish Educators Understand Mental Health