JCC to open mental health center

Roslyn-based center to begin providing preventive care in fall amid national

BY CAMERYN OAKES

The Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center is developing a new preventative mental health center to address the needs of their members amid a mental health pandemic, Deputy Executive Director Dina Shuster said.

Shuster said the center will be a safe space for the community to engage with in order to refect, meditate and attend workshops and events catered towards preventative mental health.

Workshops ideas could include skill-building on mindfulness and resiliency, as well as how-to’s on various life topics like becoming an empty nester, being a single parent or even the mental health difculties of aging, Shuster said.

“So many of these people that we touch could use this extra support,” Shuster said. “We touch every part of the community. We hear from every part of the community how mental health is impacting their life.”

The center would not be a mental health clinic, Shuster said, but rather a place to build individuals’ resiliency and preventative mental health skills through programs so that when presented with challenges they have the tools to work through them.

She said that due to their role in providing social services for their community members, the center is equipped to refer individuals to the appropriate resources in the event that someone needs further mental health assistance.

The idea for the center came about when local psychologist Gayle Berg raised concerns to the JCC about the mental health pandemic that is afecting the community and how they could assist in addressing it.

Shuster said they agreed that a mental health pandemic is what community members are in the midst of, with many members expressing the need for mental health services.

She said helping community members work through difcult times is part of the JCC’s obligation.

“They’re asking for this,” Shuster said.

Berg suggested a center for preventative mental health to address this concern, providing not only a physical space but also a series of programs and a curriculum.

The name of the center is still being fnal-