You can’t walk into the J without feeling what a really special place this is; and right now, we all are missing our work home and family.  Here are some ways for all of us to stay positive and healthy. We’re in this together – let’s stay connected.

First and foremost – if you, or someone you care about, are feeling overwhelmed with emotions like sadness, depression, or anxiety, or feel like you want to harm yourself or others, you can contact:

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990
  or Text TalkWithUs to 66746 or call 1-800-846-8517

• Santa Clara County’s 24/7 Behavioral Health Services Department call center: 1-800-704-0900.
  Crisis Text Line: Text RENEW to 741741

• Suicide and Crisis Hotline 24/7: 1-855-278-4204

• Uplift Family Services’ crisis intervention team provides 24-hour intervention to children and teens in Santa Clara County who are in acute psychological crisis. (This is for acute crises.) If you have a child in crisis, call the Mobile Crisis Program’s 24-hour crisis hotline at (408) 379-9085 or toll-free 1-877-41-CRISIS.

Emergency Alerts and Air Quality Data

• Air quality data: https://www.airnow.gov/

• Santa Clara County’s Emergency Alert System: Sign up at https://www.sccgov.org/sites/oes/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx

Other resources for stressful times:

• • For helping children manage fear/stress:  https://www.cdc.gov/childrenindisasters/helping-children-cope.html

  • A children’s activity book for coping with stress after/during disaster:  https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/readywrigley/documents/RW_Coping_After_a_Disaster_508.pdf A Ready Wrigley activity book for children age 3-10

  • Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley offers counseling, home care services, employment assistance, food assistance and more, and you don’t have to be Jewish:  https://www.jfssv.org/services.html

Especially for older adults:

• Institute on Aging’s Friendship Line: 1-800-971-0016. The Friendship Line is for people over the age of 60. It’s a crisis intervention hotline and warmline for non-emergency emotional support calls.

• LGBT Elder Hotline-SAGE Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders. “A Place to Call When You Need to Talk.” 1-888-234-SAGE or sage@GLBThotline.org

• California Senior Hotline: 1-833-544-2374. The state of California is establishing this hotline in partnership with AARP, the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association to assuage the loneliness and anxiety that the state’s older residents may feel during the pandemic as they are self-isolating.

For older adults in need of food assistance:

• Home delivery meals for seniors: https://covid19.ca.gov/restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors/

• Free prepared meals for seniors ages 60+: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=56299

A great one-stop location for ways to give help or get help in the South Bay:

• https://siliconvalleystrong.org/

To keep the positive energy going, try these resources:

• Headspace (meditation app) – Headspace is offering additional guided meditations, exercises, and sleep aids to help you out, however you’re feeling. These are free to everyone, not just Headspace subscribers. It’s part of a collection called “Weathering the Storm”

  • https://www.headspace.com/covid-19

• Institute for Jewish Spirituality – The Institute for Jewish Spirituality has compiled their own list of resources, including a free daily drop-in meditation (online), free daily Torah study, and a free meditation starter pack.

  • https://www.jewishspirituality.org/get-started/resources-for-challenging-times/

• Otter and Panda Cams – The Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Smithsonian National Zoo have Otter and Panda cams respectively. Take a break to watch some cute animals living life.

  • https://www.facebook.com/montereybayaquarium/videos/219520122494107/UzpfSTEwMzc0MDE1MDk6MTAyMTgzMjcyMTU2NjUyNDQ/

  • https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/panda-cam

• Nightly Met Opera Streams – The Metropolitan Opera has introduced free nightly opera streams (audio)

  • https://www.metopera.org/season/radio/free-live-audio-streams/

• Dark Noise – Dark Noise is a white noise app. The creator of the app has made the Beta Testing version on iPhones accessible as a way to allow people to use the app for free.

  • https://testflight.apple.com/join/kpKtyijY

• Talkspace – Online Therapy App. Talkspace is offering $100 off when you first sign up, which depending on the service you select can give you one month free.

  • https://www.talkspace.com/

• Exercise – These apps are offering free versions of their services during the outbreak.

  • See our “Virtual JCC” page for a list of what the JCC is offering.

  • Yoga on YouTube – These are some good yoga channels that always offer their videos for free

    • Yoga With Adriene – https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene

    • Sean Vigue Fitness – https://m.youtube.com/user/motleyfitness/videos