Reuben Rotman, Executive Director of Jewish Family Service of MetroWest (JFS MetroWest), believes there is nothing more important when providing services to the Jewish community than to ensure these services support families in their entirety. If a family needs financial counseling or crisis counseling, marriage counseling or family therapy—Jewish Family Service of MetroWest is there. Whether a pregnant woman or new parent needs a support group, or families need services for their special needs children or aging parents, or individuals require support during instances of domestic violence—Jewish Family Service of MetroWest has the ability to help.
JFS MetroWest is divided into different divisions, all with the express purpose of providing necessary assistance to particular segments of the Jewish community. There are services for adults, older adults, victims of domestic violence, and children and adolescents, and the different divisions often feed into one another. Sara Mendez Emma is the Clinical Coordinator of Child and Adolescent Services for JFS of MetroWest and helps facilitate the many programs that are offered for these age groups.
The Ruth Sagner Center for Play Therapy was established in 2006 and is a state of the art venue that uses play as a tool to support emotional health in young children. Therapists use age appropriate toys, games and crafts to enhance their sessions and allow children to express themselves in a safe and protected environment. These youngest patients have often been identified by parents, preschool teachers or pediatricians as having communications or behavioral issues necessitating further attention and intervention. Often sessions with these children focus on not just helping the child individually, but facilitating a stronger parent and child relationship through bonding, again in that same protected environment.
Younger children also can benefit from DIR Floortime, which is an intervention program tailored to the unique challenges and strengths of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other developmental challenges. The DIR model focuses attention on where children are developmentally at a given time and how each child responds to particular sensations, as well as the importance of the caregiver-child relationship. Floortime ensures that clinicians and caregivers are physically involved with the children, assisting them in mastering their developmental tasks with the ultimate goal being that these children will be participating and integrated members of our shared world.
JFS MetroWest social workers not only provide services in-house, but also are available to synagogues, JCCs and schools. They run Mommy and Infant groups for mothers and children under 12 months, where new moms can meet others going through similar life experiences and where these mothers can share special bonding time with their infants. These groups are run at the JCC or a local synagogue and are open to the public.
These social workers also provide on-site services to local preschools on a weekly basis. They offer behavioral and emotional structure and ideas to help children learn at an age appropriate level, and also provided parent training in both group and individual settings. All MetroWest preschools participate in the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, through which JFS MetroWest offers a consultation program with several therapists on call to assist preschool principals and teachers.
JFS MetroWest also works with children with special needs in conjunction with other MetroWest programs. They offer parent or sibling support groups, with each focusing on the needs of the particular group. For fathers specifically, they provide single focused workshops on topics including navigating the legal system, schooling, insurance issues and more.
Older children begin to benefit from traditional talk therapy, incorporating play when necessary, until the child reaches an age where talk therapy alone is sufficient. During this time, children and parents may share combined psychotherapy, particularly in cases of family trauma or conflict, or stressful situations affecting the parent and child relationship. In any cases involving trauma—such as accidents or abuse—children 8 and older may participate in trauma focused CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), which is short term therapy focused on the particular trauma. Therapists undergo 40 hours of training to enable them to appropriately guide these children through their particular trauma.
Straightforward mental health counseling is offered as well, with an older child or adolescent assigned a therapist with whom they meet regularly. The counselor works with the client and his or her family to establish a plan and set therapy goals that they strive to meet during each session.
There are also training programs for volunteers, where these volunteers ultimately go into the court system to act as advocates and provide support to individuals and families, or into the school system to provide a safe place for children with identified issues to share their feelings with a nonthreatening adult.
JFS MetroWest works with school systems to provide workshops and speakers on topics of interest and import to the community. Recently, Dr. Edward Hallowell spoke at Liberty Middle School in West Orange as part of the JFS MetroWest annual Joseph F. Goldberg Memorial Learning Disabilities Seminar. The seminar was well attended by members of the greater MetroWest community and very well received by participants.
According to Rotman, “Today it is just as common for schools and agencies to reach out to JFS MetroWest for services as it is for individuals. We are available to provide whatever services we can at whatever level they are needed.”
“We are the primary mental health resource for the Jewish community,” said Rotman, “and we are committed to providing the best care and services at the highest level.”
Jewish Family Service of MetroWest has two locations, one on Columbia Turnpike in Florham Park and one on Rt 10 West in Livingston. They have 2 full time child and adolescent social workers, as well as 6 others who see both children/adolescents and adults. They accept insurance for services and where insurance is not applicable, provide services on a sliding fee scale based upon financial ability. They are an agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest and receive funding from a variety of sources to support their many divisions and programs. For more information, please visit www.jfsmetrowest.org or call 973-765-9050.
By Jill Kirsch
