We are proud to kick off the Mensch Club’s 2019-2020 season with a wonderful breakfast followed by a very important and poignant program featuring guest speaker Ester Luetenberg.

Introduction by Charne Shoob, Mental Health Occupational Therapist (Ret). Ester and Jay Leutenberg’s son Mitchell had a mental illness which resulted, over a period of 8 years, in 3 attempts and his ultimate suicide in 1986 at the age of 30.

Prior to his death, he, Ester and Jay told nobody, not even his three younger sisters, about his previous attempts because of the associated stigma, shame, and reactions.

Ester has since written over 120 workbooks for health facilitators on topics such as erasing the stigma of mental illness, building resiliency, and coping with grief. She has co-authored books with her daughter, a psychiatric Occupational Therapist, and with many other mental health professionals to help those with mental illness be more able to open up and talk about feelings, which her son was unable to do.

How can we, as a community, help to overcome the stigma associated with mental illness?

 Please RSVP so that we know how much food to prepare for this very special event. Non-members are welcome to join us for this event.