About Us

The Wellness Institute (TWI) is committed to support youth resilience by developing and disseminating behavioral health and suicide prevention education and resources to better equip youth and their families to overcome challenges during adolescence and young adulthood.

Our mission is to disseminate educational resources and trainings to assist youth worldwide in discovering meaning, hope, and resilience. TWI develops educational materials for parents and resilience-building programs that engage teens in meaningful discussions and provide evidence-based skills to enhance communication, problem solving and emotion regulation.

In addition, it trains individuals and organizations who provide educational, community-based, and clinical services.

Teen discussion groups: We develop and distribute resilience-building curricula to facilitate meaningful discussion groups based on Jewish wisdoms.

Parents, educators, and youth leaders: We provide evidence-based training from the world’s leading experts on warning signs recognition, risk assessment, and effective interventions.

Community: We develop partnerships and host awareness events for the purpose of uniting organizations from all sectors in addressing youth mental health.

Educational resources: We publish original resources by leading experts for parents, educators, and youth leaders.

Continuing Education for Practitioners: Training designed to strengthen clinicians’ competence and confidence in effectively working with suicide risk.

In addition to our international reach, TWI has city-specific locations in:

Vancouver, BC

Project L’Chaim is a community-wide uplift effort in Vancouver, BC. The project is The Wellness Institute’s first regional branch. Guided by local and international suicide prevention and resilience experts, Project L’Chaim promotes teen mental health and empowers local schools, synagogues, and community organizations to address the mental wellness needs of the youth they serve. Community-wide awareness events and campaigns create a grassroots endeavor to focus on the mental well-being of teens.
Project L’Chaim is sponsored by the Diamond Foundation in loving memory of Steven Diamond Z”L.

Toronto, ON

With a large and involved Jewish community, Toronto is a perfect fit for bringing The Wellness Institute to a broad, community-wide impact. Working with local schools, synagogues, and organizations, we are easing access to existing local mental wellness tools, as well as educating local teens in suicide prevention and mental tenaciousness.
The Wellness Institute Toronto is made possible thanks to a gift by the Schulich Foundation.

Houston, TX

With its world-class hospitals focused on physical wellness, TWI Houston is bringing another look at mental wellness to the broader Houston community. Working with a midsize Jewish community enables us to identify and work closely with all of our community partners.

During COVID, 62.9% of youth ages 18-24 experienced debilitating anxiety or depression

In 2019, one-in-five U.S. high school students seriously considered suicide

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24

From 2007 until 2017, adolescent suicide rates increased by 56%

Source: CDC

For over two decades, JLI has developed and distributed quality resilience-building curricula, which offer continuing education credits for medical and mental health professionals. This wealth of material is currently taught in professional courses in over one thousand locations worldwide. The Wellness Institute builds on JLI’s extensive experience and reach.