Mental Health, Mental Illness, Stigma, and Shame: A Community Gathering & First Step 

Conversation with Rabbi Lauren and SAJ Members
In Person
RSVP helpful but not required

On Rosh HaShanah, Rabbi Lauren gave a powerful sermon “Stigma & Shame: Breaking the Silence on Mental Illness” in which she highlighted the stigma and shame that impact people’s ability to get treatment and to find support in their community. Speaking personally and vulnerably about her own experience being a caretaker for a child struggling with mental illness, she invited us to consider how we as a community might change so that conversations about mental health and mental illness become normalized in life-saving ways.

As a first step, we will gather for conversation, after kiddush. We will create a brave and confidential space in which SAJ members can share their personal reactions to the sermon and, more importantly, the ways their lives have been impacted or touched by mental illness, whether personally or through family and friends. People are also invited just to simply listen and support. The only goal of this conversation is to continue to break the silence and to treat mental health and mental illness “like normal parts of life, because they are.”

This conversation is a first step in what we hope will be a series of programs but more importantly a change in culture that can have a significant impact on our members and be a model for other congregations around the country. We ask that if you did not hear Rabbi Lauren’s sermon, that you read or listen (or refresh your memory with it if you like) before you come.

If you are interested in an online version of this program because you will not attend SAJ programming in person, please email rabbilauren@saj.nyc to let her know.