32 July 25 • 2019
jn

We Need to Talk … 
and Listen, Too

Federation launches podcast as latest channel of 
communication in youth mental health program.

T

he power of talking about mental 
health … just think about how 
often it starts with a single con-
versation: between parents and their 
children, between teens and their peers, 
between teachers and health profession-
als. Think about having those conver-
sations; stop and listen; see how voices 
can raise awareness and change minds 
at home, in school and in the social 
landscape of a community. 

WE NEED TO TALK
So, let’s talk … about peer pressure and 
the anxieties we see in our students. 
Let’
s talk about helicopter parenting. 
Let’
s talk about the use and abuse of 
social media.
Let’
s talk about resiliency and finding 
support networks. 
What started as the Youth Mental 
Health Initiative in Jewish Detroit is 
a vibrant communitywide program 
today. We Need to Talk, sponsored by 
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit, grew out of a community 
“needs assessment” survey in 2016 
revealing an alarming prevalence of 
mental health issues among the youth 
in the Jewish community. In 2018, 
Federation launched We Need to Talk 
— a website — with videos and links 
to resources as a first step: to reduce 
stigma, to raise awareness about youth 
mental health, and to provide ready 
access to resources for those in need of 
care. 
A portal for storytelling and insights 
shared by teens, parents and family 
members, teachers and mental health 
professionals — the website (wn2t.
org) has recently expanded its video 
library to include easy-listening and 
browsing in podcast. 
Tune in and join Todd Krieger, 
senior planning director at the Jewish 
Federation, as he and guests explore 
some of the hottest topics of the day, 
underscoring reasons for youth mental 
illness. In the first nine episodes in the 
series, Krieger is joined by Julie Fisher, 
an educator with more than 25 years 
of experience working with parents 

and students around the country 
on topics related to 21st-century 
relationships and youth mental 
health. Fisher is the author of The 
Resiliency Puzzle, a handbook 
for understanding how kids can 
develop the skills they need to 
cope with adversity and persevere 
to gain character and fortitude to 
succeed. 
In future podcasts, Krieger 
will be joined by other experts 
and community members who 
will share their personal stories, 
providing insights and tools for 
young people and their families 
struggling to achieve mental 
well-being. While some segments 
will cover topics in brief, others 
are expected to be more in-depth 
profiles and conversations. 

WHY A PODCAST? 
Krieger explains: “During our conver-
sations with agency executives — and 
in keeping with our promise to deliver 
programs and tools most beneficial to 
the agencies — we learned that many 
parents were seeking helpful informa-
tion in short chunks. In particular, in 
those precious few minutes in a busy 
day when parents might be waiting to 
pick up their children at school or other 
activities, there are opportunities for 
teaching moments — spaces for listen-
ing and learning, finding a piece of the 
puzzle or a tool that is useful to better 
understand the complex challenges that 
our kids face today.
” 

AMBASSADORS FOR MENTAL HEALTH
“We see our role as advocates for our 
kids and ambassadors for reducing 
the stigma still associated with youth 
mental illness,
” says Dr. Lilly Jacobson, 
a clinical psychologist in private prac-
tice at Children’
s Hospital of Michigan 
and chair of Federation’
s Youth Mental 
Health Advisory Committee. “We Need 
to Talk is our community call to action. 
Our goal is to educate the community 
about current mental health issues and 
the warning signs of mental illness, and 

to reach young people (and those who 
love and influence them) with positive 
messages of self-worth.
” 
To date, We Need to Talk has touched 
the lives of hundreds of families in 
Jewish Detroit. In collaboration with 
Friendship Circle’
s UMatter, Jewish 
Family Service, Jewish day schools, 
BBYO and Tamarack Camps — and 
with the generous support of the com-
munity — the program has launched: 
• “FRED Talks” — parlor meetings 
for parents
• Community-wide events including 
an evening with best-selling author 
Frank Bruni (Where You Go is Not Who 
You’
ll Be) and Julie Lythcott- Haims 
(How to Raise an Adult)
• Suicide prevention training 
(safeTALK) and Applied Suicide 
Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) for 
more than 600 professionals who work 
with youth in the community
• Additional staffing and resources 
for existing mental health programs at 
Tamarack Camps and Jewish Family 
Service.
There’
s so much more to learn, so let’
s 
keep talking … visit the website, watch, 
listen … and stay tuned. ■ 

Vivian Henoch writes for myjewishdetroit.org, 
where this story first appeared.

jews d
in 
the

VIVIAN HENOCH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

TOP: Educator Julie Fisher joins Todd Krieger for the 
first nine podcasts. BOTTOM: We Need to Talk events, 
such as “How to Raise an Adult” with Julie Lythcott-
Haims, have touched the lives of hundreds of families 
in Jewish Detroit.

JOHN HARDWICK 

Today’
s Jewish Teens 
Value Heritage, Culture

The largest study ever on American 
Jewish teens paints a picture of a 
cohort that simultaneously embraces 
family, Jewish culture and friends, 
while also grappling with anxiety and 
pressure to succeed — in a world per-
meated by social media and constant 
communication.
Researched and written by the 
Jewish Education Project and Rosov 
Consulting, the survey results were 
culled from interview responses from 
17,576 teens. The report is filled with 
findings covering a range of areas. 
On family: Jewish teens like their 
parents and value their perspec-
tives. Teens enjoy spending time with 
their family and often look to their 
parents to help them make sense of 
the world.
On contemporary challenges: 
Teens in the study believe adoles-
cents need help with social-emotional 
issues. They named coping with anx-
iety, academic pressure, self-esteem 
issues and failure as the biggest needs 
of their peers. 
 Jewish teens see positives and neg-
atives to social media. Teens acknowl-
edge that social media can cause them 
stress, but many also believe it helps 
cope with stress, connect with friends 
and organize for change.
On religious practice: Americans 
increasingly describe themselves as 
having “no religion.” But even many 
“no religion” teens — a sizeable 
minority in the study — are inter-
ested in engaging with Judaism at 
certain points in their life. Moreover, 
the majority of engaged teens who 
responded to the survey unequivocal-
ly identify as Jewish and also report 
belief in God. Teens feel Jewish culture 
is something to celebrate and most 
commonly use the word “culture” to 
express what it means to be Jewish. 
Many of the teens interviewed 
report anti-Semitic experiences but 
do not feel personally threatened or 
see anti-Semitism as a primary lens to 
understand their life experience.
Teens from the study are interested 
in Israel and believe that as Jews they 
have a special connection to the land 
and country. They want to ask trusted 
adults questions about Israel, and most 
teens who have not traveled there yet 
hope to do so one day.

