JTEC Jewish Teens for Empowered Consent

After more than a year at home, Jewish teens are returning to camps and youth group summer programs! COVID-19 gave us a necessary pause to reflect on toxic hookup culture in Jewish teen spaces while considering how we can build healthy relationships and practice empowered consent. Now is the time to reinstate healthy, meaningful connections with each other and learn about the measures to take if, at any point, our boundaries are violated. 

In Jewish Teens for Empowered Consent's first podcast, we join with BBYO's "Safety, Wellness & Inclusion team," professionals Drew Fidler and Ari Handel, to discuss post-COVID boundary setting and sexual harassment/sexual assault reporting at Jewish camp this summer. 

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Jewish Teens for Empowered Consent is a teen run initiative dedicated to dialogue and change around toxic hookup culture in Jewish youth groups and teen spaces. Check out our website to learn more about our work and find us on Instagram @jews4empoweredconsent. 

Drew Fidler - Director of BBYO’s Center for Adolescent Wellness

Drew is a noted child wellness expert with experience educating, promoting, and implementing policies and practices to support children and adolescents’ physical, mental, and emotional health. She is an honors graduate of NYU Silver School of Social Work and Skidmore College (cum laude), and a licensed clinical social worker. She spent the last six years with the Baltimore Child Abuse Center in Maryland, most recently as the Director of Prevention and Education. Drew has been a key resource for Jewish and non-Jewish camps and youth serving organizations (YSOs) throughout North America, crafting policy and providing support and training to staff on various issues of child protection.

Contact Drew at dfidler@bbyo.org

Ari Handel - Director of Inclusion

A certified Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer, Ari supports teens throughout all BBYO programs with any needed accommodations, modifications, and support and trains staff and volunteer advisors to ensure that teens’ needs are being met. She has established the first international network of teens who serve on the BBYO Inclusion Committee. Together, the 40 teen leaders and Ari focus on promoting inclusion in several programing areas including LGBTQ+, mental health, disability, global, and more. Ari hires and supervises all wellness staff, including a team of social workers and nurses, at immersive experiences.

Contact Ari at ahandel@bbyo.org