“Sheltered and Secure”

Facilitators and Barriers Toward Recovery for Haredi Jewish Women With Mental Illness

Rohr, Eliana
Antebi, Lara
Jarvis, G. Eric
Whitley, Rob

Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia
Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University
Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Douglas Research Centre, McGill University

Several individuals and organizations generously gave their time during the community consultation and recruitment phase of the research, including Rabbis, Rebbetzen, and clinicians working in the Haredi community. The authors are particularly grateful to the team at Refuah V’Chesed for their helpful assistance, advice, and counsel. The authors thank research assistants Malka Reich and Juliette Careau for their help in recruitment and data collection. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding this study. Finally, the authors are grateful to the project participants who bravely shared their perspectives and experiences.

Eliana Rohr played an equal role in formal analysis, validation, writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing. Lara Antebi played a lead role in data curation, project administration, and software, a supporting role in writing–review and editing, and an equal role in formal analysis and validation. G. Eric Jarvis played a supporting role in conceptualization, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, supervision, and writing–review and editing. Rob Whitley played a lead role in conceptualization, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, and supervision and an equal role in writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing.

Rob Whitley, Douglas Research Centre, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada [email protected]

Received September 25, 2023

revised May 16, 2024

Accepted May 17, 2024

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). This license permits copying and redistributing the work in any medium or format for noncommercial use provided the original authors and source are credited and a link to the license is included in attribution. No derivative works are permitted under this license.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 48(1):p 54-61, March 2025. | DOI: 10.1037/prj0000625

Objective: The overall aim of this study was to elicit and document the recovery-related perspectives and experiences of Haredi Jews with lived experience of mental illness living in Canada. A more focused objective was to specifically explore self-identified facilitators and barriers toward recovery from mental illness in this group. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study involving semistructured interviews with 20 women who (a) identified as Haredi Jews, (b) had used mental health services in recent years, and (c) were 18+ years of age. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. Results: Four prominent themes emerged from the analysis. The first two themes were predominantly facilitators, and the last two themes were predominantly barriers. These themes were (i) a close-knit, supportive, and lively community with considerable social capital; (ii) Judaic beliefs and practices regarding Gd, daily life, and health care giving structure, meaning, and purpose; (iii) community stigma and self-stigma, often related to marriageability of self or offspring, as well as notions of perfection; and (iv) a lack of wider mental health literacy, despite participants speaking positively about mental health services such as medication and therapy. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: This study indicates several individual-level and community-level factors that are reported to facilitate recovery in Haredi Jews. However, problems of stigma and mental health literacy remain an issue. Targeted antistigma programs, such as co-constructed contact-based educational interventions, may be helpful in contributing to a community climate that further facilitates recovery.