Dr. Nate Charach: Resilience Building Workshop

By Jack Kugelmass with Arlene Roth

In the Spring of 2024, Holy Blossom Temple was approached by our Temple member Dr. Nate Charach, with a riddle. “What do you call a program that combines psychiatry with climate change?” The answer: “Psychiatree”! www.psychiatree.ca

Dr. Nate Charach, a psychiatrist and the founder of psychiatree.ca, briefed the L’Chaim Program and the Luke Sklar Mental Health Initiative Committee (LSMHI) about a 6-session group program he has created that serves to help build resilience to individual and group trauma.  This program was offered to us for members of the Jewish community’s post-October 7 world when many of us are experiencing feelings of fear, helplessness, shock, and anger – both concerning Israel and the antisemitic environment at home. With the guidance of Rabbi McCarroll, the Holy Blossom Temple hosted the group program run by Dr. Nate Charach. Six Temple members signed up for the series.

In our time together, we were introduced to three themes, each of which weighs on our lives as Jews in a post-October 7 era. Dr. Charach noted that he was guided in pursuing this work by the teachings of authors Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone in their bookActive Hope: How to face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and  Creative Power.

First, even as we witness and experience the trauma of the October 7 pogrom, we have an opportunity to promote post-traumatic growth for ourselves and our world. We can work toward that goal by honouring our pain and the pain of all affected by trauma.

Second, rather than a personal journey, our pain is connected to the pain of others. Only through a community with a positive vision can we build the strength to act in the service of others in our world. Overcoming pain is facilitated with action or in Jewish terms, acts of loving kindness. It also involves “active hope” – a concept that suggests that hope has meaning only when we act in pursuit of a desired outcome.

Third, a path to “active hope” is for all of us to recognize that the earth and all that lives within it is at risk unless we come together to protect and heal our world with all our individual strengths. Healing comes with joining others in community efforts to preserve all that is good, and to understand and honour that which is causing destruction, and then acting to care for all that lives.

A fellow participant, Arlene Roth, shared her experience of the group as follows:

“Nate gathered universal truths about being human and the role of our precious Earth in our lives to teach us how to hope and bring about positive change for our world.  When the course began, I was feeling helpless and full of grief over the war in the Middle East; however, during the time in our group, I grew increasingly less fearful and more confident that I could make a difference and become more connected to others and our planet.  I do believe that although there is no quick fix for our troubled world, by taking small steps we can repair and improve it.”

The members who took the program thought that others in the congregation may want the opportunity to take this program (there is a fee).  If there is interest among some in our own community who wish to participate in such a group, please contact Dr. Nate Charach at  [email protected] or Rabbi McCarrol at [email protected].

Arlene summarizes her takeaways:

1. 1. We must believe in more than ourselves. 
   2. Fear keeps us in “Business as Usual” mode. This is not conducive for change.
   3. Humans are not central to our world.  We are a small part of a self-regulating evolving system that Earth modifies to keep our world in balance. Indigenous cultures understand the natural cycles of Earth and how all life is interconnected in a delicate balance.  They view themselves as stewards of the land to ensure it is whole for future generations.  We would do well to learn from them.
   4. Repressed emotions create anxiety.  We need to learn to Honour our Pain, to free up space for hope, and use our energy to make wiser, more compassionate decisions for our future.
   5. Instead of feeling fearful, we need to be strengthened by uncertainty.  We need to believe change is possible.
   6. Our culture emphasizes Power Against rather than Power With.
   7. Building bridges with others by finding mutual goals through non-violent communication will lead to a more peaceful, healthier world.
   8. Even in times of anger, sadness, and grief, feeling grateful for the gifts we have from Earth and those around us will build trust in our universe and our connections with others.

The idea of combining the movement addressing climate change with a psychiatric intervention was a new one for me until I noticed our Temple’s Schwartz/Reisman Atrium’s “Living Wall” which contains the 7 species of plant life associated with Eretz Yisrael. While I thought that this was a lovely design feature of the Atrium, I now wondered if the living wall could be connected to the subject of Dr. Charach’s proposal? What if the wall represented more than plant life?   What if it pointed us in the direction of creating and sustaining all life on the planet, a tenet central to Jewish life?   To do so requires knowledge and action that serves to create, grow and maintain all life with resilience and hope for us and future generations. The series offered by Dr. Charach seeks to help us to develop such skills and consciousness.

The combination of climate awareness and psychiatric knowledge may sound strange to many of us who feel weakened in the face of a broken world; however, writing on behalf of our group, I can state that the discussions and exercises we experienced, helped us emerge from the group series feeling strengthened and more resilient. Furthermore, it was highly informative and meaningful.