The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati is ramping up funding for the Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati’s youth and young adult mental health services.
A new grant will help JFS bring more mental health clinicians to Jewish organizations; train Jewish professionals to support those with mental health struggles; reduce the stigma of mental health; and focus on a wider age range, from 6-30 years old.
Previously, JFS served the 10-22 age range with this initiative.
“We’ve served hundreds of families together — sending the message that mental health challenges are normal,” said Liz Vogel, CEO of the JFS, in a press release.
“The power of our partnership is that no one in our community has to face [mental health challenges] alone,” she said.
Said Danniell Nadiv, chief program officer at the Foundation, in the press release: “By investing in wraparound services and engaging top tier clinicians at JFS, the Cincinnati Jewish community is building a more unified and sustainable approach to mental health.”
The work on youth and young adult mental health came out of a JFS strategic planning process. It also looked at the needs of other Jewish organizations.
The resulting priorities: Reducing the stigma of mental health, and making care more accessible.
Part of that also meant “providing mental health education, so that essentially all youth-facing staff in the Jewish community could be on the same page with how they approach mental health needs,” said Leah Marcus, director of youth mental health services at JFS.
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati gave pilot funding for JFS’ work in 2021, with the Foundation joining in 2022. JFS’ mental health work is a strategic focus area for the Foundation.
With that support, JFS embedded mental health clinicians at Jewish schools and places like Cincinnati Hillel.
“Effective mental health support is premised on building relationships with those who need it,” said Nicki Stratford, the Foundation’s program officer, in the press release.
“Clinicians embedded in our community are in day schools, camps, Hillel, and congregations, so families get to know them,” she said. “Then, when a parent or child needs support, they can access care quickly with people they already have a relationship with.”
With JFS’ work came more interest from staff and families, especially in dealing with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health.
That was a natural expansion of the work, as JFS staff consulted more with other organizations and worked with families to get the care they needed.
The aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel also illustrated just how necessary JFS’ work is.
“We found ourselves…having conversations and providing a great deal of education around, how do I teach or engage or have conversations around this tragedy, and how do we support kids when they’re struggling with experiencing antisemitism?” Marcus said.
“We really increased, a great deal, the amount of support we were providing to existing programming.”
The Foundation’s renewed support means JFS will be able to do even more to help the Jewish community amid uncertain times and rising antisemitism.
“This renewed partnership and funding opportunity really allows us to continue the work that we’re doing, to expand the age ranges we’re providing services to…and improve our ability to provide additional training related to youth mental health,” Marcus said.
