Orthodox Services
JFCS is committed to understanding and ensuring that our services meet the unique needs of the people we serve. Frum and culturally sensitive JFCS associates offer the Philadelphia Orthodox Jewish community the same wide range of services provided to all JFCS clients. They respond to Orthodox Jewish families’ mental health challenges, engage Orthodox professionals (Rabbis, educators, administrators) around challenges that may be impacting their community, strengthen the Orthodox Jewish community’s response to these challenges, and expand the capacity of local providers to ensure that they are culturally sensitive to the nuanced needs of Orthodox families. In addition, JFCS services can function as a gateway to assisting Orthodox families in reaching other available community resources and supports.
JFCS Orthodox Services include:
- Care management: provides a full range of services in areas such as determining eligibility and attainment of public benefits, assistance with identifying and accessing resources, advocating on behalf of individuals as they navigate through different systems, and supporting families with critical needs through a holistic lens
- Counseling: supports Orthodox individuals, couples, and families in achieving stability and growth in areas such as interpersonal relationships, depression, anxiety, life stressors, trauma, isolation, parenting, intimate partner violence, symptom reduction, and coping skills
- Financial empowerment coaching: provides assistance and guidance in setting financial goals through analyzing expenses, developing a budget or spending plan, exploring ways to save, understanding credit reports, and debt management support
- Professional development: provides cultural competency trainings about the Orthodox Jewish community’s specific needs for the broader community’s mental health providers, social service organizations, and general service providers
- Suicide & Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: provides educational programming to area Jewish Day Schools
- Domestic Violence Support & Prevention: addresses domestic violence in the Orthodox community, assists Orthodox leaders in reducing stigma and increasing support for survivors and their children, and provides training for secular organizations to offer culturally and religiously competent services. This project, Shema Koleini, is offered in partnership with Jewish Women International through a grant awarded by the Office of Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.
JFCS also works with partners in the Philadelphia Orthodox Jewish community to address the overall health and well-being of the populations they serve, reduce the stigma around mental illness and social, emotional, and financial stressors, and reenforce the importance of seeking help or treatment, by providing education, information, and referrals to schools, synagogues, social service organizations, and professional and lay leaders.
Eligibility is determined based on the specific needs of the individual or family.
We offer services via a variety of locations and platforms: telehealth, in office settings, and mobile therapy for those who are eligible.
If fees are applicable, they are established on a case-by-case basis. If you are in need of assistance, please do not let financial concerns keep you from calling for help. Payment options may include a sliding scale, Medicare and/or additional assistance.
Our Staff
Ronni Troodler, LCSW, Orthodox Services Social Worker & Program Manager
Carly Chodosh, LCSW, Social Worker & Care Manager
Julia Strassman, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Shema Koleinu Project