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13 JANUARY 2022 Noa Girls Launches Innovative ‘Clinical Training Programme’

Noa Girls has initiated an innovative ‘Clinical Training Programme’ as part of its commitment to meet the surging demand for its services. Noa provides practical, emotional and therapeutic support for adolescent girls in the Orthodox community, delivering tailored one-toone support to girls via its keyworking, mentoring and therapy programmes, as well as working with girls’ families. Its mission is to empower each girl to harness her innate strength to move forward to overcome the obstacles in her life to live an independent positive and healthy future. Noa’s professional team includes clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, child and adolescent psychotherapists, social workers, family therapists and volunteer mentors.

In April 2021 Noa ran an immensely successful fundraising campaign. As a result of the community’s incredible generosity, Noa was able to clear out its waiting list of 58 girls and take on many additional girls who had since been referred. However, as Noa’s CEO Naomi Lerer explains, the urgent need has not abated.

“Mental health issues have exploded over the past few years, and Covid has not only exacerbated issues, but has brought them further out into the open,” she says. “This has had an enormous impact on our services. Despite everything we were able to do thanks to the fundraiser, our current waiting list stands at over 40 girls.”

Noa is committed to providing its girls with the highest levels of wraparound care and support, and to ensuring that they can provide an address for all girls brave enough to seek support. In order to continue to meet the growing needs of the community Noa needs to recruit more staff to join Noa’s team. As well as being suitably qualified, personable and talented, it is essential that Noa staff have a deep understanding and experience of working within the community. Naomi Lerer explains “when our girls are supported by staff who can really relate to them, they feel truly understood and are able to make meaningful progress”.

To this end, Noa’s new Clinical Training Programme will provide a unique opportunity for women from the community who seek to undertake a qualification in a therapeutic field such as social work or psychotherapy. Noa will offer financial support to the successful applicants for their training, as well as work placements, access to in-house training and clinical supervision. Successful applicants will need to commit to a period of employment at Noa in a clinical role, for a time period commensurate to the funding allocated, where they will benefit from becoming part of a supportive, caring and professional team who are dedicated to the wellbeing of girls.

“We know that there is vast untapped talent within the community,” concludes Naomi Lerer, who is also Rebbetzin of Central Synagogue. “Our hope is that the Clinical Training Programme will enable us to recruit more staff and increase our capacity, which will have such a positive impact on the entire community.”

For more information or to receive an application pack, please email hr@noagirls. com

Jami Mental Health Awareness Shabbat 2022

The sixth annual Jami Mental Health Awareness Shabbat (MHAS) last weekend saw hundreds of events take place in shuls, schools and organisations across the country. These ranged from interactive education sessions and virtual panel events to dedicated Kabbalat Shabbat services and personal testimonies.

Laurie Rackind, Chief Executive at Jami, said, “I am so proud to be part of a community that embraces the opportunity to challenge stigma, raise awareness and promote conversations around mental health. Living in this climate of constant uncertainty, it is more important than ever to have open conversations about mental health and encourage people to get help when they need it.”

The MHAS was held on 7-8 January, coinciding with Shabbat “Bo” during which the weekly Torah portion about the plague of Darkness is read, the description of which has particular resonance with mental illness. This year’s theme was ‘Mental Health in a Changing World’. Recent global crises, including the threat of climate change and living through a pandemic, has impacted on all our mental health and led to increased feelings of anxiety and stress for many people. For those already living with mental illness or caring for someone with mental health problems, the past year has been tougher than ever.

Over 200 organisations marked this special Shabbat with events including United Synagogue’s dedicated Kabbalat Shabbat on theUS.TV; publishing of collected divrei Torah and thoughts from Rabbis and cantors of the Movement of Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism by The Honeycomb Project; and Masorti’s Senior Rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg in conversation with Jami chief executive Laurie Rackind at a special Kabbalat Shabbat Zoom.

Jami delivered a programme of events including sessions for young adults on climate change and mental health; men and mental health; impact of increased reliance on digital technology on wellbeing; and youth mental health in collaboration with Beyond.

RSY-Netzer marked the Shabbat with a memorial tea and havdallah in memory of Zach Klement, an important member of RSY-Netzer and mental wellbeing advocate; while Maccabi GB continued to support Jami’s MHAS through the “One Minute for Mental Health” initiative, whereby players paused for one minute before kick-off to think about how to openly encourage conversation around mental health. Ashley Lerner, CEO of Maccabi GB shared, “Highlighting positive mental health is incredibly important and we are pleased that through our Affiliated Football Leagues, we could assist reaching as wide an audience as possible”.

Maccabi GB speaking about mental health before a league game

13 JANUARY 2022

TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906 8488 GENEuary 2022: Giving January life

Following the success of GENEuary 2021 Jnetics presents GENEuary 2022 bigger and better!

GENEuary is a monthlong awareness campaign, designed to raise awareness about recessive Jewish genetic disorders and the importance of carrier testing. The GENEuary campaign, will include a series of events across the community that will focus on raising awareness of these life-limiting and life-threatening disorders.

Nicole Gordon, CEO, explained “in times of such uncertainty, so much is out of our control, but eradicating Jewish Genetic Disorders from our community is not. As a charity we exist with the sole aim of testing as many young adults through our schools and universities programme and our clinic targeted at young couples. The last 12 months have been hugely exciting in the history of Jnetics as we moved from testing for nine to 47 conditions, now spanning across the Sephardi and Mizrachi communities as well as the Ashkenazi.”

“Jewish Genetic Disorders, are disorders that are relatively more common among Jewish people than the general population. Jnetics currently tests for 47 of the most common and severe JGD’s that are either fatal in childhood or cause chronic disability and shortened lifespan”, Guila Vaz Mouyal, Jnetics Research & Development Manager went on to explain “these conditions span the community cutting through the Ashkenazi, Sephardi & Mizrahi populations, at the moment Jnetics tests for 28 Ashkenazi conditions, 15 Sephardi & Mizrahi conditions and 4 that are relevant to people from all backgrounds”. “Tay Sachs is the most widely known JGD, but there are others, just as severe, that can cause devastating impact to a family. With screening widely available there is absolutely no reason why any couple should have to endure the pain of their child being born with life threatening or life shortening genetic illness” Nicole Gordon explained.

Jnetics’ test identifies individuals and couples at risk of having a child affected by a severe JGD. This in turn allows them

GENEUARYGENEUARY to explore several reproductive options available to ensure they don’t pass on the disorder to their children in the future. January 2022 Jewish Genetics Awareness Month GENEuary 2022 presents a series of We had no idea that we were both carriers of " " important conversations between Jnetics and several guest speakers about Jewish Genetic Disorders, identity, breast cancer Tay-Sachs disease and and cross border screening. To find out count our lucky stars that more about GENEuary and events taking we now have the knowledge place in the month of January please visit to manage our risk of passing https://www.jnetics.org/support-us/ it to our future children " " geneuary2022/. Please join us this January to help raise For more information about screening at The Jnetics Clinic awareness of Jewish Genetic Disorders visit jnetics.org/screening and help us achieve our mission of ensuring babies born into our community are Find us at www.jnetics.org free of life shortening, incurable and life @jneticsUK debilitating Jewish Genetic Disorders. The GENEuary campaign has the full support of all synagogue movements in the UK, as well as a number of partner organisations.

Jnetics Reg charity no. 1134935

For further information on GENEuary contact guila@jnetics.org To book a screening appointment visit www.jnetics.org/screening

The team at Chana were a lifeline for my husband and I after we tragically lost our baby girl last year. We have been given so much support and care through this difficult time. We really appreciate everything that they do.” Rachel – Chana client

For nearly 30 years, Chana have been providing emotional and practical support to Jewish couples who are longing for a family, but may be struggling. To date, 825 babies have been born with Chana’s help – with your help, that number can keep rising.

CHANA PROVIDES:

• A confidential free helpline • Cutting-edge medical information courtesy of our in-house Scientific

Advisor • Specialist medical support through our Medical Advisory Panel - 30 of the

UK’s leading specialists and healthcare professionals • Treatment advice sensitive to the centrality of halacha at all times • One-to-one and couples counselling:

Male and female therapists • Financial assistance for investigations and treatments • Support groups • Secondary infertility support • Webinars and monthly newsletters • Training and guidance for communal leaders • Events featuring the latest information on reproductive health grieving and feeling alone. We were put in touch with Chana and our healing began. The guidance from our therapists helped us navigate through one of the toughest challenges of our lives. Their support changed us as individual people, as a couple and then as parents to Sofia. Unfortunately, miscarriages, still births and infertility are more common than we think, and Chana needs our help to be able to continue to support people in our community facing these ongoing daily struggles.” Kelsey Ainhorn –

Chana client

Chana’s precious moments

CHANA BRINGS LIFE INTO THE WORLD, THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL

With Covid causing backlogs across the entirety of the NHS, waiting times for appointments are now up to a year, time young couples often simply cannot afford to wait. Demand for our vital services has increased by 20% since our last fundraising campaign 18 months ago. Your support is needed more than ever for our Matched Funding Campaign on 16th -17th January 2022, entitled ‘Precious Moments’. We need to raise £700,000 in 36 hours to ensure that we’re able to continue to support couples in our community who need our help.

Every donation, large or small, will make a real difference, and will be doubled by our generous ‘matching funders’ during the live campaign.

Help ensure that more families in our community can enjoy life’s precious moments. During our campaign on the 16th–17th January, all you need to do is donate via Charity Extra website or over the phone. Naomi, Adam & Eloise

“We would like to thank Chana for the many years of giving us therapy and support. Our Jewish Neshama is now here and giving us total joy. We wake up every morning and know how blessed we are. Our journey was very difficult and painful. Where we are now would not have been possible without Hashem and Chana. Love Naomi, Adam & Eloise”

Find out more at chana.org.uk/moments A Free Helpline: 020 8201 5774 info@chana.org.uk Registered charity no. 1172957