Behavioral Health Training Initiative

Rabbi Yudi Mann, publications director at The Shul, explains that the initiative's aim is not to turn clergy members into health experts, but to "bring them up to par" when it comes to recognizing behavioral health issues in community members.

"This is to instill a much deeper understanding, throughout our network, of behavioral health," Mann says. "There's a lot of work being put into this and we're very excited."

Staff at The Shul have formed a committee to determine which behavioral health topics to emphasize in the upcoming retreat. They've also connected with local health systems to bring in behavioral health professionals to host panels and provide information on local resources that clergy members can bring back to their own communities. Mann says that bringing religious community leaders together to share one space through the retreat is one way The Shul hopes to "enhance the community's strength."

"We want to be able to ... prevent issues from becoming extremely severe," Mann says. "By training the clergies, we'll be able to better identify and point out issues in the community."

Itty Shemtov, The Shul's director of education, has been working alongside Mann to gauge interest and invite community leaders to the retreat. She explains that a focus of the initiative is to directly impact women in leadership positions throughout the community. Having access to behavioral health information can impact many different populations that Jewish community leaders serve.

"These are community leaders involved in preschool to high school, adult education, [and] religious services. We want to celebrate our opportunities and maximize what we are able to offer," Shemtov says. "Our goal is to help our leaders celebrate their own successes and equip them to take it up a notch."