JFCS Spotlight - January 2024

Many of us know what it feels like to have anxiety. We are anxious about bills, work, politics, wars...and the list goes on. While, as an adult, we may view a child's life as one with little worry, children actually experience the same complex emotions we do, with the same levels of anxiety. So, what can we do to help our children better manage their stress?

At JFCS, our team of licensed psychotherapists is trained to help kids deal with anxiety as well as teach parents how to help their children overcome their fears. We recognize the influential role parents play in their child's life and we actively encourage their participation. By engaging in the therapeutic process, parents gain insight into their child's experiences, emotions, and needs. This collaboration strengthens the parent-child bond, improves family dynamics, and creates a supportive environment for change. At JFCS, our goal is to empower parents to implement therapeutic techniques beyond the sessions to promote continued resilience and growth.

Ever since October 7th, we have been seeing a significant increase in levels of anxiety among children. For some, the war hits closer to home than others. We recently began treating a high school-aged girl whose anxiety spiked due to her older brother and cousin both serving in the IDF. She explained how she constantly worries for their safety and feels powerless to do anything to help them. This anxiety makes it difficult for her to interact with her friends, concentrate on school, and lead a healthy teenage life. Her therapist is working with her, using various cognitive approaches, to help her realize that while worry and fear have places in our lives, they do not need to paralyze her. Through individual sessions as well as sessions that include her parents, this teenager is able to put her anxiety in a context and has learned techniques to manage it rather than letting it control her. Her parents were thankful for the tools we gave them because they felt supported and better equipped to manage both their daughter's and their own anxiety.

When we worry, it can affect everyone around us. JFCS is here to ensure you can effectively manage your anxiety to lead a happy, fulfilled life.

Dear JFCS Family,

I'm not sure we've ever experienced a time when feelings and general outlook on life have shifted for so many of us. This anxiety and worry, described above as a pervasive trend among our children and teens, is also a challenge for many of us adults and seniors. At JFCS, we constantly look for new and better ways to serve our community. These days, while meeting the social service, food insecurity, and emergency needs of our clients, the emotional well-being and mental health of all who pass through our doors is of heightened interest and concern to us. Staff often speak internally about the fact that fostering "resilience" is our specialty. Staff and leadership alike take enormous pride in the mental health and other supportive services at JFCS that cultivate hope.

During these gloomy winter months, it is even more important to remember that regardless of your circumstances, you are not alone. Hope and resilience can be part of your future and/or this message may be important to pass on to a family member, friend, or acquaintance you're concerned about.

Please remember that the team at JFCS is ready to help.

Wishing all of you HOPE, RESILIENCE and PEACE.

Susan