November 2022 Newsletter

• Mental, Emotional, and Social Health for Experiential Educators 
• Teen Wellness Fellowship in Los Angeles 
• BaMidbar at Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Leaders Assembly in Atlanta, GA December 4-6
• BaMidbar at Hillel International’s Global Assembly in Dallas, TX December 12-15
• “Toward Shlemut (Wholeness) with BaMidbar,” from the Covenant Foundation’s digital journal, Sight Line
• Podcast interview with Jory Hanselman Mayschak in Bridges 613

Jewish professionals are uniquely situated to create positive environments where not only Jewish learning, but also mental health and wellness, can flourish. Mental, Emotional, and Social Health for Experiential Educators (MESH-EE) helps Jewish professionals expand their understanding of mental health and wellness through experiential education and a Jewish lens, in order to actively promote resilience and help their students thrive.

As a result of BaMidbar’s MESH-EE program, Jewish professionals build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to:

• Promote healthy social and emotional development for all of the youth they serve
• Recognize when youth are at risk of experiencing mental health challenges
• Explore connections between Jewish tradition and mental health and wellness
• Create Jewish educational experiences through a whole-health wellness lens

This course will be offered virtually December 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 12:00-2:00pm EST.

Learn More
Register Today

The Teen Wellness Fellowship trains and empowers teens to be change-makers in the ongoing conversation around mental health in the Jewish community. Over the course of five months (January – May 2023), Fellows will work to increase awareness and decrease stigma around mental health through personal exploration, group learning, and field-based projects. Teens must be in 10th-12th grade to apply, and are asked to commit 6-8 hours per month to the initiative. Participants receive a $500 stipend upon completion of the Fellowship.

Learn More 

Apply Today

BaMidbar’s Executive Director Jory Hanselman Mayschak and Clinical Director Nick Magle Haberek will be at Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Leaders Assembly in Atlanta, Georgia December 4-6. Want to schedule a time to meet? Look for us in the exhibitor hall or email joryh@bamidbartherapy.org or nickmh@bamidbartherapy.org to connect. You can also join us for the following sessions!

I’m Not a Therapist. How Can I Help? – Fostering Resilience at Camp
Sunday, December 4th from 3:45-5:00pm

Session Description: Most summer camp staff are not trained clinical or therapeutic professionals, and yet camp holds such a powerful opportunity to bolster youth and young adult mental health and wellness. How might we leverage the unique nature of this environment to better support our campers and counselors alike? This session will lend guidance for defining our role as non-clinical professionals working in a mental health space, and will offer frameworks to help us meet campers and counselors where they are, foster their resilience, and help them thrive.

Thinking Big: Introduction to Building Trauma-Sensitive Camps
Tuesday, December 6th from 11:00-4:00pm

Session Description: This crash course in trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed frameworks will lead participants to explore how camp can better support the community’s mental health and wellness on an organizational level. This intensive will introduce holistic models to encourage proactive thinking about pervasive challenges and will offer space to begin action-oriented conversations about where institutions can start making positive change to impact their campers, staff, and families.
Hillel International’s Global Assembly 

BaMidbar’s Director of Programs and Partnerships, Emily Heeren, will be at Hillel International’s Global Assembly in Dallas, Texas December 12-15. Want to schedule a time to meet? Look for us in the exhibitor hall or email emilyh@bamidbartherapy.org to connect.

“The last two years were nothing if not a wilderness for teens. On top of the typical social and physiological challenges of adolescence, they got stuck with COVID and its attendant isolation. Many young people were pushed to the brink in terms of general wellness and mental health.

As Jewish educators know all too well, it’s not just the teens who struggled. Forced to create new frameworks and programs on the fly, our teachers were tasked with the impossible, and the stress took its toll.

Enter BaMidbar. Named for the Hebrew for “in the wilderness,” BaMidbar supports health and wellness in the Jewish community through professional development for educators and professionals, and direct service to teens and young adults.”

Read “Toward Shlemut (Wholeness) with BaMidbar,” from the Covenant Foundation’s Sightline publication.

Read the full article here. 
BaMidbar’s Executive Director Jory Hanselman Mayschak recently sat down with podcast host Elizabeth Gossage from Bridges 613 to share about BaMidbar. Bridges 613 is an organization committed to introducing and connecting Jewish and Jewish adjacent people to the vibrancy and innovation in Jewish life.

Listen to the podcast here.