“I can’t concentrate in class because at the end of the period I’m leaving to get my infusion and I’m petrified. I wish I could talk to my friends about it, but they could never relate.”

“Every time I raise my hand in class, it looses circulation and my fingers are freezing cold for the next few hours. My classmates have no idea.”

“I have to prick myself every few hours to check my sugar levels. My classmates freak out and say all the wrong things.”

There are many girls in every high school who may appear completely typical on the outside but who are privately dealing with a non-life-threatening medical condition. You may never know why the girl sitting next to you is always missing class, why a classmate gets excused from gym, or why your best friend can’t eat certain things. Most people think that when someone is sick, they look sick. In reality, 96% of chronic illnesses are actually invisible.

MyTEAM is a frum organization that provides peer support to high school and post seminary girls who are dealing with any non-life-threatening medical condition. Currently MyTEAM is helping frum girls across the country with conditions including crohn’s, colitis, lyme, diabetes, chronic pain, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, respiratory disease, etc. In addition, they also support girls going through a medical procedure such as surgery to remove a benign tumor or their gall bladder. They also work with girls who are dealing with various symptoms but do not yet have a firm diagnosis. Sometimes that stage can last years, and can be the most isolating.

MyTEAM confidentially matches up ‘teammates’ for one-on-one peer support. A teammate is a peer who is going through a similar medical challenge. In addition, each girl is paired with a mentor, an older girl or young-married who has also experienced a medical challenge, to offer support, perspective, and guidance. MyTEAM also arranges monthly teleconferences by renowned Rabbonim, social workers, and mechanchos who each offer a unique angle in providing chizuk, coping skills, and perspective to the teammates and mentors.

MyTEAMS’s director/social worker performs an intake with the parents of each prospective teammate, and a coordinator speaks with the girl herself to better understand her needs. MyTEAM then matches each girl with a peer of similar age, personality, and hashkafa who is dealing with a similar medical challenge. MyTEAM also puts each girl in touch with a mentor who has gone through a similar condition. They typically speak with their teammate and mentor over the phone once a week. Through their shared experiences, the girls are able to connect with their teammates and mentors, and provide each other with much needed support.

“I was paired up with a ‘teammate,’ a girl about my age who has the same condition as me, and we speak on the phone on a weekly basis. I look forward to our conversations when I can be authentic and discuss the challenges I am experiencing in a way that I have never felt comfortable doing with the ‘healthy’ people in my life. I hang up feeling so normal, understood, and really supported because I just finished talking to someone who ‘gets it.’ Even though my teammate did not necessarily experience the exact difficulties I’ve had that week, she’s likely to have been there before and knows exactly what I am talking about.”

MyTEAM cheers on frum girls who are dealing with an ‘invisible illness’, and helps them feel supported, validated, and part of a team, all fighting together.

Please reach out if you or anyone you know can benefit from this unique organization.

For more information, visit us at: myteamcares.co

Or contact us at: 347-766-7306 or [email protected]