Seventeen-year-old competitive figure skater Vanessa Finder was a freshman in high school when she and her skating partner tripped, causing her head to smash against the ice, concussing her.

“I’ve had ankle injuries, spine injuries, knee injuries,” she told eJewishPhilanthropy. “But with the head, it changes the way you think, and your behavior, and how you react to other people in the world around you.”

Seeking relief from the vestibular migraines that followed, Finder devoured research on concussions. She taught herself techniques — exercise and creative activities — that lessened symptoms. “I’ve never found a topic that I’m genuinely so interested in,” she said, “and I wouldn’t have found it without going boink in the head.”

Finder hopes to be a member of the first cohort of BaMidbar’s Jewish Teen and Young Adult Advisory Committee, which allows young Jews aged 16-25 the opportunity to give their input on the mental health nonprofit’s programming.

Formed in 2016, BaMidbar originally focused on therapeutic wilderness expeditions, which the nonprofit still offers, but the pandemic forced the organization to pivot and expand their services. It added professional development programs, mental health and addiction awareness workshops, a fellowship, and opened a Boston office that offers virtual and in-person therapy.

Although its programming has always been aimed at teens and young adults, the nonprofit has never had them “literally in the room” directing their services, Whitney Fisch, CEO of BaMidbar, told eJP. Three months ago, she joined BaMidbar after serving four-plus years as executive director of Hillel at Miami University and realized the organization required a needs assessment. What better way to do one, Fisch thought, than going to the people who are at the “center of what we do.”

Aiming to launch in the early summer, the committee will include eight members serving one-year stints who will meet at least six times per year via Zoom. The only staff present at meetings will be the chief programming officer and an additional BaMidbar employee who will provide an education component.

Committee members will discuss a different aspect of BaMidbar’s work at each session. Attendees will brainstorm trip agendas, come up with ways of making programming attainable, discuss social media presence and ways to provide tools to peers. The program officer will take it all in, and representatives from the committee will relay ideas to BaMidbar’s board.

Because BaMidbar has cultivated partnerships with the larger Jewish community, including with Jewish community centers, summer camps, Hillels and synagogues, the committee has the potential to help the wider Jewish world better serve young Jews’ mental health.

One goal is to work with Birthright Israel trip providers to “help them build agendas that give space for communal care and psychological safety through a trauma-informed lens,” Fisch said. After the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, this is essential, as Birthright Israel trips often visit massacre sights.

“I want to make sure that we’re not taking advantage of [trauma] in order to build connection to Israel,” she said. “How are we honoring what happened in Israel on Oct. 7, but doing it in a way that’s thoughtful and through a trauma-informed lens, so we’re creating safe, thoughtful relationships with Israel in a way that’s healthy and not exploitative.”

Eighty percent of BaMidbar’s work is community education, Fisch said. Post-Oct. 7, she has seen well-meaning Jewish organizations put on panels for young adults and teens without asking them what they actually need. “Maybe teens or young adults on college campuses want permission to not talk about antisemitism right now,” she said. “Maybe they want skills to be able to be an advocate, but also know when it’s OK to say I need a break.”

BaMidbar is using partners such as Keshet and Foundation for Jewish Camp to cast a large net to cultivate a diverse committee. Some members will naturally transition from BaMidbar’s fellowship, which Finder is also a member of. Committee members don’t have to have firsthand experience with mental health struggles, but do need to have an understanding of them.  

Although the application doesn’t include a “five-page college essay, it’s also not just a check box,” Fisch said. One of the things they are looking for in a participant is “dedication,” she said. “There’s no two ways around it.”

Participants will choose a specific BaMidbar initiative to focus on, but Fisch has no idea what it could be, because it’s up to the participants to decide based on their own interests.

More young adults than ever appear to be  open to discussing mental health, yet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic there is a mental health provider shortage. A program like this 20 years ago could have set society up better to deal with the increased need by putting youth on a path to become mental health leaders, Gabriela Lupatkin, director of clinical services at BaMidbar told eJP.

“Our hope is that through this work, they can find their voice and feel that they can have an impact, even at a young age,” she said. “Their voice is really important.”

Today, Finder is a BaMadbar fellow and the president of the neurology club at her Framingham, Mass., high school. Being a part of BaMidbar is especially important to her because it  “intertwines both Jewish identity and mental health and wellness.”

After a January plane crash over the Potomac River in Washington claimed the lives of 28 members of the figure skating community, including coaches and friends of hers, she was able to implement all she’s learned.

“Everyone was a mess,” Finder said. Her friends were distraught, but stigma over being emotional caused them to feel shame over their feelings. 

“Your emotions are valid,” she remembers telling them. At only 17, she knew just what to do. “All of this is valid. This is tragic. All of us grieve differently,” Finder counseled, “and the way you grieve is the way you grieve, and that’s OK.”