Courtesy of The Jewish Foundation.
Submitted by The Jewish Foundation
New grant to Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati builds on past success and responds to increased demand with more clinicians embedded throughout the community and wider age range being served
The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, an organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish life in the greater Cincinnati area, today announced increased efforts focused on youth mental health in the Cincinnati Jewish community. A new grant to Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Cincinnati will support more mental health clinicians in the community, a new public awareness campaign, more youth and families being supported, Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training for professionals and more.
“In partnership with Jewish Family Service, we continue to change the narrative and end the stigma around mental health,” said Nicki Stratford, Program Officer of the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati. “Effective mental health support is premised on building relationships with those who need it. Clinicians embedded in our community are in day schools, camps, Hillel and congregations, so families get to know them. Then, when a parent or child needs support, they can access care quickly with people they already have a relationship with.”
Courtesy of The Jewish Foundation.
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati provided initial funding to JFS in 2021 to support this work. The Foundation’s funding began in 2022 and enabled JFS to expand these efforts, establishing partnerships with more than 30 local community organizations, nearly half of which embed clinicians. JFS focused previously on the mental health of youth ages 10-22. With this new grant, they will expand to ages 6-30 — partly to account for youth and young adults set back by Covid — and will include support for parents and guardians.
“This enhanced grant expands our focus beyond the individual to support the entire family, recognizing that when family systems are strengthened, they’re better equipped to care for their children,” added Danniell Nadiv, Chief Program Officer at the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati. “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.”
For some youth, a significant barrier of access to care is their busy schedules. To ensure that children do not need to be pulled out of class time, clinicians are accessible before and after normal school hours at Sunday school, day school and elsewhere.
Jewish students at University of Cincinnati also can access an embedded clinician at Hillel, which became even more critical amid the rise in antisemitism and harassment of Jewish students.
Courtesy of The Jewish Foundation.
“We’ve served hundreds of families together — sending the message that mental health challenges are normal,” said Liz Vogel, CEO of Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati. “One-in-five of us face them. The power of our partnership is that no one in our community has to face them alone.”
The mental health initiative is one of the Foundation’s strategic focus areas. Supported by the Foundation’s new grant, expanded mental health services in the Cincinnati Jewish community will include:
• Wider Age Range: Now includes ages 6-30 and parents/caregivers.
• Public Awareness Expansion: Continued focus on reducing stigma, increasing education, producing toolkits, having a presence at events such as Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations and community fairs and efforts timed with mental health awareness months.
• Professional Development & Training: Community professionals will have access to Youth Mental Health First Aid recertification (a training program designed to teach adults who interact with youth how to recognize and help young people experiencing mental health challenges), and there will be continuing education opportunities and real-time consultation for previously trained professionals.
• Greater Program Flexibility: Psychoeducational programs for professionals will be tailored to emerging needs and will be offered as one-off programs and as ongoing series. JFS will also relaunch the Resiliency Roundtable for collaborative program design with community stakeholders.
• Enhanced Clinical Coordination: An embedded coordinator will improve care navigation, reduce waiting times and provide support for acute needs without referring to clinician.
