Youth Centered Mental Wellness for Today's Jewish World

Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author who explores the power of mattering in everyday life. Through research and storytelling, Wallace examines the hidden forces shaping modern life, from the crisis of meaning in achievement culture to the essential role of mattering in personal, workplace, and societal health.

She is the author of two instant New York Times bestsellers: Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — And What We Can Do About It — an Amazon Best Book of the Year —, and Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose.

Wallace is the founder of The Mattering Institute, whose mission is to create cultures of mattering in workplaces and communities, and co-founder of The Mattering Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating cultures of mattering in schools. She is a maternal mental health advocate at Calm, the mental health app, a consultant at Netflix, and a BCG  BrightHouse Luminary. She has also partnered with The LEGO Group on its global "Play Unstoppable" campaign, aimed at addressing perfectionism and fostering confidence through play.

Wallace serves on the board of the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, where she lives.

Avital Krifcher (she/her) is the Training Manager at Jewish Studio Project, a national organization whose mission is to build creative capacity across the Jewish community. She manages JSP's professional development programs, which focus on spreading JSP's core methodology, the Jewish Studio Process, to Jewish professionals and laypeople interested in bringing more creativity into their lives. She has an academic background in disaster studies and community building, and brings authenticity, joy, and creativity to her work and collaboration. Avital lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Rabbi Adam Lavitt (he/they) is a spiritual companion, educator, and creative facilitator committed to helping people connect with their inner wisdom and explore what matters most. Drawing from his background in pastoral care, education, and chaplaincy, Adam creates transformative spaces where people can deepen their connection to themselves, each other, and Jewish tradition. Adam has served as a spiritual leader in congregations, college campuses, and healthcare settings. Ordained at Hebrew College, where he earned a Master’s in Jewish Education and the school’s first certificate in Pastoral Care, Adam also completed training as a Spiritual Director and became a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC). An alumnus of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship and the JOIN for Justice Clergy Fellowship, Adam now works with the Jewish Studio Project as Director of Learning, guiding educators, spiritual leaders, and seekers in integrating creativity and spirituality as pathways for growth and discovery.

Dr. Betsy Stone received her Doctorate in Psychology from Yale University. She is a psychologist and for the last seventeen years has served as an adjunct lecturer at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. Her classes include Human Development for Educators, Adolescent Development and Teens In and Out of Crisis. She also teaches a family education class in her synagogue, Temple Sinai of Stamford, for 6th and 7th graders and their parents, and likes to travel and teach about teenagers and their families. Her most recent book is Refuah Shlema.