Rabbi Shalom Hammer helping others with mental health issues
For the past three years, within Israel and abroad, Rabbi Hammer has been lecturing to university faculties, high school faculties, students and youth groups, as well as audiences in pre-military academies.
AFTER tragically losing his 18-year-old daughter Gila to suicide in 2019, Rabbi Shalom Hammer embarked on a mission to commemorate her by helping others with mental-health issues.
At the end of July, he will be visiting Sydney to speak to the community at the North Shore Synagogue.
Although shaken to the core following their daughter’s passing, the Hammer family decided to speak out about their terrible loss in the hope of preventing other families from experiencing suicide.
Rabbi Hammer underwent a course in mental health first aid and became certified as a mental health instructor.
He now champions mental health awareness and suicide prevention worldwide.
For the past three years, within Israel and abroad, Rabbi Hammer has been lecturing to university faculties, high school faculties, students and youth groups, as well as audiences in pre-military academies.
He has also published 10 books, including his Gila Spreads Joy series of children’s books about empathy.
He is a sought-after lecturer in Israel and around the world.
Worrying figures in Australia show one in five teenagers have experienced mental health issues, such as depression, in the previous 12 months.
The North Shore Synagogue is proud to host an event featuring a panel of experts in adolescent mental health, specifically designed to inform parents, other family members and carers how to recognise the signs of mental illness and how to seek support for young people and their families.
Rabbi Hammer will lead the panel, entitled, “Parents – Let’s talk about the teenage mental health crisis”.
In addition to Rabbi Hammer, the panel will comprise Professor Garry Walter, who is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist; Moriah College’s psychologist Dee Fittinghoff; and Emma Cohen, who is the coordinator of the Jewish Suicide Prevention Strategy for JewishCare NSW.
The event starts at 7.30pm on Sunday July 30, under the auspices of The North Shore Synagogue, together with Masada College and Kehillat Masada. The North Shore Synagogue is at 15 Treatts Road, Lindfield. Tickets are available now for $20 from tinyurl.com/young-health for both in-person and livestream guests.
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