Unique Value Proposition
What makes the program unique is just how non-othering the educational component is.
No longer is mental health a euphemism for mental illness. Mental health actually means mental health.
The most unique part of Nafshenu Aleninu is the reach – starting but not ending with the orthodox Jewish community – into minority religious communities that have been more negatively impacted by stigma and lack of access to care than the rest of the population. Leadership is aiming to fight stigma in one of the communities that needs that fight the most, a traditional religious community.
The co-founder of Nafshenu Alenu has been working to bring mental health advocacy to the ultra-orthodox Jewish and traditional Muslim communities in Israel, and the idea of targeting orthodox communities in America with mental health education and advocacy from the inside is to create something that can be replicated in the religious communities across the globe. The ripple effects of such programs can’t be emphasized enough. They include but are not limited to the formulation of religious principles of mental health and social-emotional learning; the expansion of 12 step programs from churches into mosques, mandirs, and synagogues; and the funding of programs to make mental health care affordable for all by having religious communities share the mental health cost burden.