Crown Heights Goes “All In” on Mental Health

by M. Cohen

If you walk down Kingston Avenue or scroll through the community chats, you’ll notice a shift. The conversation around mental health in Crown Heights hasn’t just changed; it has exploded. In what activists are calling an “all in” moment, the community is currently witnessing a historic mobilization of resources, funding, and education aimed at mental and emotional well-being.

“We as a community don’t do things halfway,” says one local activist involved in the new wave of support. “When Chassidim see a problem, they don’t just talk about it. They build institutions to fix it. That is exactly what is happening with mental health right now.”

Leading the charge are organizations that have become household names in record time.

Neshamos, an organization that has rapidly become a lifeline for many, is spearheading the effort to normalize the conversation. Their work goes beyond just a helpline; it is about education and prevention. By offering tools for parents, support groups for men, and teacher training, they are ensuring that the support system is woven into the very fabric of the community’s daily life.

“It’s not just about crisis management anymore,” explains a volunteer at Neshamos. “It’s about Chinuch and awareness. It’s about ensuring that a bochur in yeshiva or a mother at home knows exactly where to turn before things spiral.”

Parallel to this is the groundbreaking work of the Bereishis Foundation. Founded by Azriel Boymelgreen, who has been open about his own journey, the foundation addresses the single biggest barrier to care: cost.

For too long, families were forced to choose between tuition, rent, and therapy. The Bereishis Foundation has effectively declared that financial status should never be a barrier to peace of mind. By subsidizing therapy costs and cutting through the red tape of insurance, they are putting action behind the rhetoric.

“The Rebbe taught us that the physical and spiritual are linked,” says a Crown Heights therapist who has seen the influx of new clients. “By removing the financial stress, these organizations are literally saving lives. It’s a full-court press.”

The landscape of support in the neighborhood now includes:

– Counseling, providing culturally sensitive, clinically excellence right in the shtetl.

– Educational workshops that are seeing standing-room-only attendance, a stark contrast to a decade ago when such topics were taboo.

– Subsidized care initiatives that treat mental health with the same urgency as emergency medical care.

The “stigma” is not gone, but it is certainly on the run. The sheer volume of initiatives proves that Crown Heights has decided that emotional health is not a luxury, it is a halachic imperative.

As one local Rov put it recently, “To care for one’s mind is to care for the vessel that serves Hashem. What we are seeing now is the community finally polishing that vessel with everything we’ve got.”

With organizations like Neshamos and Bereishis leading the way, Crown Heights isn’t just catching up to the rest of the world on mental health in typical Lubavitch fashion, it’s aiming to lead it.