Looking ahead with
Jewish Family & Child Service
WHEN: Sunday, May 23 at 5 pm WHERE: Zoom COST: Free to attend online Virtual event about servicing the needs of all with crucial programs, now and for tomorrow. Honoring Renée Holzman with Keynote Speaker Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, MD. Also featuring musical performances, an overview of JFCS services, community testimonials, and a live Mitzvah Moment. For more information, contact 503-2267079 or visit avlaunch. me/jfcs-portland.
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JFCS unLuncheon: Hope, Healing & Looking Ahead
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or the second year, Jewish Family & Child Service will be holding a virtual unLuncheon to celebrate its caring community. The theme of this year’s event is “ Hope, Healing & Looking Ahead.” “This is not about the past; it’s about all the places we’re going and the things we’ve learned from COVID,” says Ruth Scott, executive director of JFCS. “What we can take away in the way of improving services like telehealth, which is something that’s come to be very important in all of our programs.” Ruth also notes that mental health support has become an essential integrated element in all of their programming since the pandemic. “Mental health issues is not a pandemic – it’s an epidemic right now,” says Susan Greenberg, deputy director for JFCS. “We need to focus on our mental health services.” JFCS began a weekly Community Connection Zoom group that the entire community is welcome to attend every
50 MAY/JUNE 2021 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
Friday at 10 am. Moderated by JFCS’s clinical director, this time offers individuals a space to discuss the struggles and anxieties of living in the world today and vent, laugh and learn from others. JFCS is also looking to hire a child therapist to join the counseling program to help children with, among other things, reintegration when they are heading back to school in the fall. “There is a waitlist for services for adolescents. The need is great, and we are going to find that we will have a waitlist,” says Susan. “It’s exciting that we are expanding that way.” “When I came here three years ago, we weren’t doing any work with children,” says Ruth. “Getting it started and beginning to see it blossom, and to be at the point where we’re ready to hire a child and family therapist is very inspiring.”
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The Keynote Speaker for the unLuncheon will be Dr. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, Oregon State Senator for Northwest Portland and Beaverton. She will be talking about the mental health challenges facing the children of Oregon. “Oregon is currently 41st in the nation when it comes to accessibility for youth services,” says Larry Holzman, president of JFCS’s board of directors. “What we’ve learned as the pandemic gone on, initially we were tasked with managing a beefed-up emergency aid program, then the ongoing mental health stresses to everyone has continued to compound. We’ve been fortunate to see that by being able to do more telehealth, we have been able to expand our reach to the people that need it.” Part of this expanded
