Stenegirls - Chesed Club

On Sunday 9th July 2023, our female outreach worker Racheli Bass spoke at the Stenecourt Shul Chesed Club, known as 'Stenegirls,' for girls aged 10-11 years.

The session was to teach the girls the importance of being supportive of others, and to reach out for help when needed.

Racheli split the session into 2 parts, the 1st part focused on how to recognise if someone else is not feeling emotionally okay and the 2nd part was about how we can help others.

Racheli did lots of activities with the girls including naming emotions from expressions and a game involving throwing a ball of string from one person to another person while telling them something positive about them. The resulting web of string was able to illustrate how we live within a network of support, with connections with others.

Mental Health Awareness Evening - Wed 17th May 2023

Greater Manchester Neshomo are celebrating the success of their Mental Health Awareness evening

“The turnout shows just how needed such events are in the community”

“Each member of the audience felt valued”

“Best event promoting mental health awareness that I’ve been to”

“After the event I felt so empowered, I posted a picture of my antidepressants on my social media account”

“The presenters, being from the community, friendly, non-threatening individuals made them more approachable”.

Presentations

Video

This is just some of the feedback received following Neshomo’s mental health awareness evening in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week, May 15th-21st.

The event held on the evening of Wednesday 17th May was attended by over 100 people, filling the Holstein Hall in Shrubberies shul to capacity. In fact, the evening launched with an unscheduled break to accommodate all of those who attended.

Dr David Marshall, Chair of trustees at Neshomo, welcomed the audience to the event and outlined the programme of the evening. Included were presentations from five different mental health professionals speaking for around twenty minutes each on a mental health topic relating to their area of specialty.

The majority of the speakers were from the North West Manchester Jewish community.

The event began with Nechama Rechnitzer, a therapist, who spoke about tips and skills to enhance one’s own wellbeing. This was followed by Dr Helen Stevens, Clinical Psychologist and clinical lead from the Early Attachment Service in Bury exploring infant mental health. Tamar Tabor, a Counselling Psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapist, covered the myths and realities of anxiety and depression using a case study which made the topic both relevant and relatable. Dr Yehuda Marshall, Clinical Psychologist, was the penultimate speaker and covered building resilience with teens. Dr Marshall included a summary of key guidance and recommended topical books, which were noted down by members of the audience. The final speaker of the night was Dr James Glass, Consultant Psychiatrist, who presented a brief introduction to personality disorders.

The speakers came across as approachable, kind and understanding and each one contributed to a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. This was further demonstrated in the ‘breakout Q and A’ session in which each speaker had a designated room for members of the audience to approach them for one-to-one questions.

Since the event, numerous requests have been put forward to the charity for similar events to be held in the future. Similarly, the individual speakers were asked by audience members to hold whole evenings or courses on their topics.

Light refreshments were served and Neshomo personnel were on hand throughout the evening for support. Literature was provided, which included details for mental health organisations, support helplines, booklets on depression, and information pertaining to Neshomo’s services.

Neshomo is a Jewish mental health charity for adults to improve emotional wellbeing and reduce stigma within the community. They match people with all types of mental health needs to bespoke befriending or mentoring support in order to help achieve sustained wellbeing. Neshomo have a number of bespoke services for those in the community with mental health needs.

The Befrienders' Event 2023

The evening launched with words of inspiration, encouragement and of course - laughter

An evening of recognition, appreciation and inspiration: an opportunity for all volunteers and the Neshomo team to come together for an evening. Where people were able to form new relationships, strengthen existing ones, and revisit our common shared goal. Recognising the 2000+ hours of one-to-one volunteering done a year; Befrienders were lauded and applauded!

From speeches and refreshments, group-work and networking, it was an evening of warmth, strengthening, and the reminder that the impact of this work on individual lives and in turn, the world around is, is tremendous. Areas of improvement were highlighted, so that Neshomo can continue to have a direct and positive impact on the lives of those in need, and help make the world a better place.