My Agency

The Boro Park Bikur Cholem (Guardians of the Sick) Family Crisis Unit is a non-profit grassroots organization that caters to families with children under the age of 18 that are experiencing difficulties. This can be anything from the children are having trouble socializing with others to abuse or financial difficulties. Their clientele are orthodox Jews from the Boro Park, Flatbush, and Crownheights regions of Brooklyn. The department consists of our director, Dr. Lefkowitz who is a licensed psychologist, Sara Pries, and Esty Klien, our volunteer coordinators. The agency is charity and grant supported and a lot of the work done in our unit is fulfilled by volunteers and interns. We have volunteers functioning as big brothers and big sisters for children as well as guides and helpers for parents who are overwhelmed with their current situation in life.

There is no fee for services and many of the clients end up dropping our services when we have given them the help they were seeking at that moment but will many times calls the agency again when they need more help. This usually means they need money from the agency. Many of the cases that are referred to us are families that have not asked for the help directly and many times we run into a lot of opposition when trying to give the help. This does not mean we go into homes and decide they are having problems and try to force them into fixing them. It means that a parent is either physically or mentally disabled and the children are seen to be suffering by their neighbors and schools and we would like to help them in any way we can. When a case if referred to our unit protocol is as follows; Dr. Lefkowitz, Sara Pries, or Esty Klien will go to the families’ home after an initial phone call that sets up an appointment to meet. Their initial assessment then filters down to the intern or volunteer who will be appointed to the case and a plan will be developed and followed up on during our bi-weekly group supervision meetings.

The programs the Family Crisis Unit sponsors are as follows: a parenting workshop with a guest speaker that meets bi-weekly, two art classes for adolescent girls from underprivileged homes, and another class of the same kind for adolescent boys. The art classes meet weekly on Sundays and are an hour and a half long. For the first half hour there is a social skills game and the next hour is devoted to their individual art work. My fellow interns and I take turns in preparing the social skills game and we each show up weekly to help the girls with their art and through that help give them the tools to feel confident in their work and consequently themselves. The art class is a financial drain on the agency because of the venue in which the classes are given. Our director constantly has to fight to keep the program running. In light of this I suggested we stop using the venue the agency currently uses and have the art classes at the agency building with myself and fellow interns as art teacher and social skills coordinators. Since I have formal art training the art aspect would not present any problems. Dr. Lefkowitz liked the idea but was contractually obligated to finish the year at the current venue. At this point it was just the one art class for the girls and another for the boys. The second art class formed as a result of this discussion and has just had its first week this past Sunday.

The girls that attended were between the ages of 11-14 and were shy and gave short answers when asked open ended questions. We had an ice breaker activity that consisted of the girls drawing the first letter of their name on a piece of paper and decorating it. They then had to think of a word that started with that letter that described a part of themselves. I was happy when all of the words were positive ones but that also may be because we do not know each other well enough for them to test the waters with more neutral or less positive adjectives. Since I did not know the artistic skill level of the girls attending prior to this week I taught them to draw some simple cartoons by Ed Emberly that anyone can draw if you know how to make letters, numbers, and basic shapes. They each complied and drew each of the cartoon animals but did not say much during the drawing time even when prompted with jokes and our light hearted demeanor. I have surmised that the girls at this point need more structure in the class and to those ends have started to put together a lesson plan that will teach them art formally. I am hoping that the class will become less formal and more group in feel as time goes on. My main goal at this point is group cohesion. If the girls can learn to trust each other as a group then discussions about fears and hopes can be broached and therapeutic work can be done. I would classify this as preventative social care giving since I do not know the girls at this point and have not perceived any serious psychological problems. My goals may change according to what happens in the next few weeks.