good morning welcome to mosaic i am honored to be your host. i am excited to introduce you to two people and then later on in the show a third person to talk about mental illness in the jewish community. i would like you to meet diana, she is a member of temple isaiah in lafayette and cofounder and cochair of an organization within the context of temple isaiah, a hebrew team meaning open our hearts it is a cluster of synagogues and organizations in contra costa county that works with mental illness issues within the jewish community. i would like to introduce you to pam wrightman a member of con gas beth shalom, a hebrew word meaning comfort works with

mental issues in the context of her synagogue and the director of a jewish meditation center program, of the center for jewish people hood welcome. >> thank you very having us. >> i am thrilled i we should say we know each other because of the work of the bay area jewish healing center and we have at the healing center particular outreach on mental illness issues particularly a half day synagogue based conference. beth of you were the chairs and driving forces in your particular synagogues for those conferences and we have mud forward if -- and we have moved foreward from there. so why is mental illness such an important issue for us to look at in the jewish community in particular jewish care issues? >> i think mental illness,

certainly in our synagogue is an item not talked about. people are very hesitant to share, reveal their personal situations with mental illness and frequently, it is so severe, the stigma, people leave synagogues or fade into the background as a result. >> hmm. >> also i think mental illness isolates people and so in terms of a community reaching out, and being inclusive, a special effort has to be made with people who are mentally ill and their families and also because the torah tells us that we need to take care of each other in particular, the widow and orphan and stranger. >> right. >> i think some times maybe we can put people who are mentally ill in the category of stranger often people think that way. that is not a way we want people to think. until they become not a

stranger i think maybe we need to treat them that way. >> i think that makes sense i think in general, illness in and of itself is anest strangement. we typically know ourselves and others best when we are well but don't particularly know ourselves very well when we are ill. so it is anest strangement. >> the community has come a long way, community in general, in supporting people with illnesses. we have cases of one name or another, in every congregation or church for that matter but when it comes to mental illness the stigma is so great, if you do reveal the situation in your home or family or in yourself, people don't know how to respond including our clergy. frequently it becomes a situation of isolation, suppression. >> why is the stigma, there?

what is that all about for us in the jewish community? >> i have thought about that a lot. i don't think that i fully understand it but you know, i have a few thoughts that i have had and shared with other people are that, you know, jewish people have great pride in their brain function and intelligence and functionality, and i think that it may be a point of shame for some body to admit that they or a family member has anything wrong with their brain. and also because we were talking about this in our group yesterday that our survival as a people has depended upon our whits. you know. did that play a role? >> i think also there is another piece about mental illness, for years and years there was sort of an assumption that the family didn't raise

the child correctly, and therefore the mental illness evolved because of something that the parents did. and even though science has proven that is not the case, in most case, not 100% the case, it is still there. so if your son or daughter you know on that age where they go out into the world, you know, was diagnosed with a mental illness, you feel you caused it or some how failed and that is huge shame in the jewish community. >> we are off to a wonderful start we will take a break and please join us in just a minute back here on mosaic ,,,,,,

good morning welcome back to mosaic i am rabbi eric wise. we are in the mid of a robust

conversation about mental illness in the jewish community we are joined by diana, cofounder and cochair of a group that deals with mental illness concerns in contra costa county and we have the chair of the group that deals with issues at congregation beth shalom. we were talking about stigma and how there might be an element of shame with a challenge to brain function within context of being human and that impact on us as jews in the jewish community and also issues that have to do with how people were raised which used to be an idea about why people got mental illness.

so we have this wall of stigma, what is it that you do that we can do to really break down that wall of stigma to reduce the sense of shame bring people in and welcome them so they are not so estranged. >> first at beth shalom, in our network group, we have two things that we focus on one is education, because we think people don't really understand mental illness until they do, the congregation can't really create a caring community where people will be willing to come out of their isolation. the other thing we do is we have a support group and it is ongoing, a drop in group. last year we had an 8 series group and this year we may do another eight week series. right now it is drop in and for people who are living with mental illness but also for their family members. it is a place where they can come, sit down with each other and they know that they can talk about what it is like to

live with this, without feeling any sense of judgment. it has been an amazing thing, what is great about it particularly when families come together, they are then in a setting, in the synagogue h is a spiritual setting and the spirituality of the place supports the understood folding of a really good dialogue between people and openness of the heart. it is not a psych ward, that is how families often meet or conflict of the home it is in a place where they can just be people together and also beyond the family with other people who have mental illness, they can socialize we have cookies and coffee and have social time. it allows people to practice social skill which is is hard when you live an isolated life. i think actually, it is more moving to me and does more for me as a leader some times i think than the people who attend but we get really good

feedback. >> and your group is con tracted, is a pier led congregation, member ship lead group is it not? >> it is our planning committee has five people on it some of us have mental illness in our family, like myself, i have a son who is an adult son who has severe mental illness, cooccurring illnesses and then there are people on the committee who don't but have professional backgrounds and really interested in the topic. >> it seems to me what is so interesting about having a group like that, is that part of the stigma i think of mental illness is the way we perceive it. i don't really know why but for some reason mental illness at this point in our culture is kind of like expecting some body with a broken leg to actually walk themselves to the hospital to get a cast on. >> right. >> no body in their right mind would let that happen to a family member but some how we

don't understand when we say to some body go some place and get help, they may not be able to go there, they need to be taken, to be helped. in a synagogue when you have a group, there is a much lower threshold forgetting help, for talking for socializing for having a sense of spiritual support for moving through whatever the issues are. >> i think it is one of the things that a group like yours and others have is really help the community is just the conversation. the fact that we write articles in our temple news letter about mental illness, we send e-mails to the entire congregation, notifying them of our support group or different speakers we are bringing into the congregation to talk about mental illness. the more that people begin to openly have dialogue about mental illness, with those that

are not touched by it, i think the more we are breaking down those barriers of shame and stigma. and you know it takes a long time. we were talking earlier, that after we had our conference back in 2009, you know, it was so fabulous and wonderful and so many people came and i thought there would be an immediate change and the stigma would be gone. it just doesn't happen like that. you know you have to keep working on it little steps at a time and keep talking. keep being there, and listening to those people that do tell their story to you. very important. >> thank you so much. we will take a break and say goodbye to pam wrightman but dana mckee will remain with us. thank you to pam the director of a jewish meditation center program at the center of jewish people hood, san francisco jcc

and leader at beth shalom where she is a leader. thank you so much pam for being with us and please join us in just a moment when we return here to mosaic. >> thank you ,, ve a love for skating. it all started when i was little and my dad took me to our local rink.. that love of skating took me to the olympics.

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welcome back to mosaic. i am rabbi ice honored to be your host we are in the midst of a discussion about mental illness issues in the jewish community. we are joined by a licensed clinical social worker she has been for over 30 years a therapist in private practice working in the mental health field and has her own company, bmk and associates among other things deals with complex psychiatric case management and

a member of congregation of beth jacob, redwood city a conservative synagogue in the peninsula which did the second half synagogue based conference with the bay area synagogue center many moons ago and was a leader on that planning committee welcome bar bra. >> thank you. >> and well woman back diana. we are taping this program, the week of the tragedy in arizona, and what is come to be known at this point in the media is the gentleman who is the alleged shooter, both killing and injuring any number of people in fact was some body -- is some body with mental illness. it is not clear at this juncture to what degree those issues were known or not known, to what degree he was given or

refused treatment or anything of the kind but it seems pretty clear at this juncture, mental illness was in fact a part of the consolation of this tragedy. it causes all of us to think well, what in the world happened what could have prevented this i am wondering what your reflections are given what we know about all of that? >> i am not sure how i can be presented it was identified he had mental illness issues at school, with family with friends and was identified and did go through the system to the point where he was asked to leave school but you know, nothing happened after that. the safety net in the community, didn't identify him further for as far as we know at this point, to receive

either treatment or be in a hospital. >> you know and i think it is you know curious, as to what happened i am sure his parents knew he had issue, but i mean, when i think about raising my teenage son and his -- the fact that they have some very different behaviour and we hope that it is a phase that they will get through, even the drug use that is alleged in it, to have taken place which may have been his self-medication, we just don't know. but you know, the parents can't commit a 22-year-old boy they don't have that power. and it is a very difficult thing to figure out, how to deal with something like this. what does a parent do? >> besides worry? >> besides worry. right. >> motivate, treatment, if it gets really bad, notify

authorities, i do think there was one place in the system that could have identified this individual, and that is when he went to buy a gun. >> right. >> that they -- from what the reports were, that they did perceive he was mentally unstable but he had no documented history, so he was sold the gun. that is a hole in the system between i guess the psychiatric system and gun vendor. >> how in that particular case, being careful of the alleged shooter and these particular facts, but talking on the level of an adult, with mental illness, and the way our systems work both federally, on the state level and local county level, and without moving into the political issues of gun ownership or not,

constitutional rights, what about something like identifying someone with mental illness in whatever juncture they enter into the system, and this case a gun it could have been shoplifting in a store for example how do we understand issues around jurisdiction and the way laws work these kinds of situations have different law, at work in different -- and policies in different counties, different states across the county. >> right. there is -- there has been a movement that has been funded in various local counties, for people who have had a series of in patient psychiatric, hospitalizations over a year period, the state has realized

that perhaps it is not the best treatment for people, those funds have been shifted to case management, so that these people are brought in the community and funds that would go to pay for higher level of care are now being paid to case manage people in the community, basically t offer them whatever it -- to offer them whatever it takes therapy, housing whatever it is in various different settings and it is being fairly efficient. the problems will be continued because we will most likely have more state mental health cut backs and it was really heartening to realize it was for people shifting the dollars to pay for them in the community is for other

settings, but funds will be cut with health care reform, those funds might shift to the federal government, more people on medical, medicaid roles will be picked up. we will take a quick break please join us when we return here to mosaic

welcome back to mosaic i am rabbi eric wise. honors to be your host we are talking about mental illness issues in the jewish community we want to give you local resources if you are interested in this group, the group that means comfort dealing with

issues in congregation beth shalom call ... (415)221-8736 congregation beth shalom in san francisco simple lay say you would like information about the group there. and at temple isaiah. >> right you can reach me diana@open our hearts.net and you can also call temple isaiah (925)284-9191. >> want to say those numbers again. >> sure diana at open our hearts.net temple isaiah (925)284-9191. >> barbara at beth jacob. >> at beth jacob, what our experience has been, is most

people come to the rabbi and want to speak with the rabbi, mental illness, whether you are effected by it yourself or a family member, is something that people tend to really want to beconfidential. what happens in general is rabbis who are trained, do wind up spending a lot of time, with con agree gants, and what happens at beth jacob, rabbi has a network of con agree gents and people in the community he will refer to and as a mental health professional, myself, and a lot of my colleagues we do our fair share for the jewish community and see people at no cost or lower cost meeting where their needs are, when we do get

referrals. >> i think we should say from the bay area jewish healing center every single rabbi in the community is concerned about this issue feel free to call your rabbi in your particular congregation i know that every rabbi in the community deals with mental illness issues and continues to be concerned and supportive in general. the lastly, we want to let people know before we continue our conversation bay area jewish healing center and synagogues we have worked with are cosponsoring a sunday matinee, january 30th, broadway musical next to normal at the current theatre san francisco and you can find tickets and information on our website jewish healing center.org. we have really just a little bit of moments left, and we want to say thank you to diana and barbara and pam for bringing us the ideaconversation around mental illness in the jewish community. have a wonderful day thank you

for being with us ,,,,,,,,,,,,

welcome to bay sunday i am your host sydnie kohara. our show encolludes a wonderful mix of talent, three time grammy award nominee and artist founder of a local nonprofit organization and an