By COLlive reporter
By focusing on the overlooked and under-discussed, the hidden or the scared, the Neshamos organization in Crown Heights has committed thousands of hours to work towards a healthier, more connected tomorrow.
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among young people, surpassed only by accidents. During your lifetime you’re much more likely to enounter someone who needs suicide intervention than CPR, they point out.
Suicide is complex, and so are its solutions. Skills training is one of the most effective prevention approaches. With the right knowledge and skills, the vast majority of suicides can be prevented.
How is it possible that so many of our young people are suffering from depression and killing themselves when we know perfectly well how to treat this illness? If thousands of teens were dying from a new infectious disease or a heart ailment, there would be a public outcry and a national call to action. Coronavirus comes across the sea and immediately we mobilize to fight this disease. We take every precaution to protect ourselves from the harmful germs as well as reaching out to loved ones to make sure they are ok and also taking necessary precautions. Suicide is killing more people in NYC than the Coronavirus. Why don’t we respond the same way?
Why? Because of stigma. Why? Because of fear. Why? Because the burden of someone else’s pain can seem like too much. Why? Because we don’t feel equipped as to how to notice the pain and subsequently ease the pain.
Suicide is a human behavior that terrifies most people. Suicide is wrongly seen as a character or moral flaw — or even a sinful act. It is viewed as something shameful that must be hidden.
However, suicide is a medical problem that is almost always associated with several common and treatable mental illnesses, like depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of those who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental disorder. A diagnosable mental disorder that could have been treated.
We need to talk more openly about suicide, to help people see it as the treatable medical menace that it is.
We need to do a better job of identifying, reaching out to and providing resources for those at risk, in particular adolescents and young adults.
We need to educate parents and teachers to recognize depression in young people and to learn about the warning signs of suicide.
The mental health crisis spans cultures and time zones. Knowing no difference between language, age, gender, Satmar, Lubavitch, or Modern Orthodox. Every 5 hours, someone dies of suicide in New York. Every day, 16 young people die from suicide. Today we can change that. What are we waiting for?
Yosef is a 23 year old boy from Crown Heights, who had an extremely difficult life stemming from abuse he experienced as a child. He fell into a deep depression, leading him to drinking, smoking, and substance abuse, causing him to have suicidal thoughts as well as multiple suicide attempts. Since then he has been in and out of hospitals. Yosef has been struggling daily.
Most of us have a Yosef in our lives, a friend, relative or co-worker. We may not always realize that the Yosef in our lives is struggling. The signs aren’t always in your face or how one might expect suicidal tendencies to manifest. Being trained by an expert will help you notice the signs that are overlooked. Being trained will help you discern what is in fact a call to help, and being trained will assist you to heed that call in an effective, meaningful way.
The Mishnah teaches us in Sanhedrin 4:5 that anyone who saves a single soul from Israel, he is deemed by Scripture as if he had saved a whole world.
Do not shut your eyes and heart to mental illness, to addiction, to depression, to the results of molestation and abuse of all sorts, to all types of agony individuals in our community are suffering from.
Parents, educators, brothers, sisters, rabbanim.
We must become a community where we do not run away from trauma, pain and mental illness. We must be the community that has the courage to tackle it head on and to see the pure light of those souls struggling with something they did not choose.
It’s hard, it’s scary – it’s natural to want to turn a blind eye, run away, ignore. But it is our responsibility to show up. People are dying. So, let us help you Let us train you So you no longer need to turn a blind eye So that from now on you can show up and be there. So that from now on you can show up and save a precious life.
YARDEN BLUMSTEIN AND LIVING WORKS:
A Day or Suicide Prevention will be taking place in Crown Heights under the umbrella of the Neshamos organization to tackle what many are calling an epidemic.
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among young people, surpassed only by accidents. During your lifetime you’re much more likely to enounter someone who needs suicide intervention than CPR, they point out.
When people are thinking about suicide, they almost always express their pain in ways that invite others to reach out and help, they said. Training empowers someone to recognize these signs and provide life-saving support.
Presenting the 3-hour certified suicide prevention training course will be Rabbi Yarden Blumstein, a Chabad Shliach in Michigan, founder of UMatter, and certified LivingWorks trainer. Rabbi Blumstein has trained nearly 2,000 people in suicide prevention.
LivingWorks’ solutions are designed to empower a community-based approach to suicide prevention. They enable everyone to play a role, creating powerful safety networks to support those in need.
“By instilling life-saving skills throughout communities, we can protect people where they live, work, play, and learn,” LivingWorks says.
“In the past five years, ten teens associated with Chabad communities have taken their lives,” Rabbi Blumstein said. “As adults, as community members, as shluchim, it is our job to be there for people when they need help.”
“We need more people doing that – letting people know that struggle is real, but the solution is real, and there are keys to the solution,” he said.
The training lasts just three hours – the lessons learned not only last a lifetime – but can save a life.
“They have a fascinating statistic that every five people trained, is two successful interventions in the first 90 days,” said Rabbi Blumstein.
Rabbi Blumstein calls this training the CPR of mental health, helping people recognize signs in someone who might be suicidal and how to intervene.
The workshops will be held this Sunday, February 23, Chof Ches Shvat, with Rabbi Blumstein leading four sessions at the Razag Hall. Men and women will be seated separately with a mechitzah.
The first three sessions taking place at the following times: 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM 4:30 PM – 7:30 PM.
These sessions will have more in-depth training and require a reservation. Reservations can be made by emailing [email protected]
At 8:30 PM that evening the entire community is invited to join a final training session.
These suicide prevention workshops have been arranged by Neshamos in conjunction with Rabbi Shais Taub. In the few years since its inception, Neshamos has thoughtfully endeavored to break through stigmas and the loneliness that so often feeds the vicious cycle of self-doubt and self-shame.
Founded by a concerned Dr. Eli Rosen and a team of dedicated professionals and like-minded organizers, Neshamos provides teacher training, curricula, community events, parent classes, and a life-saving helpline guiding individuals and families through mental, emotional and/or substance abuse crisis.
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Thank you Neshamos!!
Please run one of these in Jerusalem!!!
finally, we are beginning to turn over the rug and sweep up all the dirt which has accumulated underneath: depression, s abuse, suicide ideation and more. the dirt needs to be exposed and dealt with. we don’t have the luxury to be complacent, embarrassed or ashamed anymore. Hoping that this awareness will be instilled and acted upon in Kfar Chabad and elsewhere in Israel and beyond. kol ha kavod to the initiators of this sorely needed project.
This is absolutely essential and kudos to the people doing it. What I want to see now is all the collective rabbinic mashpi’im and the Beis Din coming out with the letter telling everyone they must attend this program and how crucial it is. The next thing is to discuss honestly when people kill themselves and not cover it up as is often the case out of shame or shidduchim concerns. This is what our community can do to help those suffering
I live out the country I would love to access to this info
To tune in or hear a recap for those of us out of town.
It is so critical for all to hear!!
Thank you for doing this and please make an audio available for those who cannot attend.
I salute this effort. Addressing mental health issues in the open is a positive growth step. One thing, though. The complicated issues mentioned, and their resolution, have been oversimplified in this post. We do not “know perfectly well” how to treat anxiety, depression, substance abuse or suicide (if “treat” means to cure). And the reasons why suicide is a more difficult topic to discuss than other health issues are not clearcut. We as a species are learning about the complexity of mental processes and awareness is a fundamental step, but don’t assume we are yet where the issue is as… Read more »
But knowledge is power to make things somewhat better.
Email provided isn’t working?
[email protected]
My name is Yechiel Gluckowsky and I live in Toronto. I am a member of a clubhouse called progress place. They help people with mental health issues. There is 300 clubhouses in 30 countries around the world. There is 47 clubhouses in Michigan alone. They started in New York in the early 40s and they have a clubhouse in New York in Manhattan. That’s the biggest clubhouse in the world. Its called Fountain house. They could call me if they want more information. My phone number is 647-677-0439. You should be matzliach in all your endeavors.