Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) Certification: Teens Supporting Teens During Challenging Times
The Jewish Education Project and our partners at BeWell/JFNA and RootOne are launching our fifth national virtual cohort of the Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) Certification program for 9th-12th grade Jewish teens this March.
Participants will learn how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health challenges in themselves, friends, peers, and youth they work with in camp, youth group, and madrichim/religious school settings.
Participants will earn a tMHFA certificate after attending all three 90-minute sessions and completing a small amount of online asynchronous work between sessions. tMHFA will take place via Zoom.
Course Overview:
- How to open the conversation about mental health and substance use challenges.
- Common signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges.
- The impact of school violence and bullying on mental wellbeing.
- How to seek the help of a responsible and trusted adult.
A prerequisite for registration is that participants must be in relationship with a professional that is Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) certified. This could be a youth director, education director, madrichim coordinator, teacher, RootOne trip provider, coach, etc. We can also train any professional in your organization so they can serve in this role if you don't have someone trained already.
Registration will close on Monday, February 23, 2026. If you have any questions, please reach out to Erica Hruby at ehruby@jewishedproject.org
- Camp
- Congregational Learning
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- Teen Engagement
- Antisemitism
- Character Strengths
- Disability and Belonging
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Holocaust
- Israel - Contemporary
- Israel - State
- Jewish Text and Thought
- LGBTQ+ (Sexuality and Gender) / Belonging
- Mental Health
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- Well-being
Erica Hruby, M.A. is a Jewish educator with nearly 30-years of teaching, curriculum writing, and professional development experience in Jewish community, academic, and residential environments. Erica serves as Senior Manager, National Teen Education and Engagement at The Jewish Education Project. She is also the founder of Anchored Parenting, LLC where she serves as a parent educator and coach. Erica has an M.A. from Georgia School of Professional Psychology in Clinical Psychology with a focus on children and adolescents. She lives on the West Coast of Florida with her high school sweetheart with whom she shares two adult daughters.
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