October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. What does that mean? Verbal, physical and mental abuse come from all walks of life, varying age groups, all backgrounds and education levels and it occurs in all our neighborhoods, but it is not always easy to detect.

You might be embroiled in a destructive relationship, contemplating the release of divorce, or you could be well along your way in the progression of events. Divorce in our normal world can be extraordinarily traumatic. When you add the anxiety brought on by our current chain of events, for some people it may be arduous. We are all navigating the pitfalls for our very first time, perhaps we can learn from one another.

I was recently introduced to two extraordinary groups of young people. One came in the form of a community meeting of the Between Friends Learning Collaborative which brings together providers who work toward ending intimate partner violence. The other is a group of young researchers, exploring social issues important to them as part of JUF's Research Training Internship (RTI).

by Betsy Lazerow, JCARES & Community Services Professional Education Coordinator

JCFS Chicago's Community Services is committed to offering cross-discipline professionals – mental health, social service, health care and addiction treatment professionals; Rabbis and synagogue leadership; law enforcement and legal advocates; administrators and educators – with a diversity of opportunities for learning, networking and dialoguing.  

On August 10, JCFS Chicago welcomed 16 domestic violence professionals to its Skokie office for the first Association of Jewish Family & Children Agencies (AJFCA) Domestic Violence Professionals Fly-In. The participants came from all across the country, including Los Angeles, Cincinnati, West Palm Beach, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Detroit. As this passionate group of colleagues energetically shared ideas and described the breadth of programming that is being accomplished, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much has changed.

By Eric Crabtree-Nelson, LCSW, Response for Teens

Violence.  It’s everywhere these days.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that we have a real violence problem here in the Chicago area.  Whether it’s the rampant street violence we hear about or live with every day, or whether it’s bullying behavior towards others that persists despite all of the attention and educational programs that have been put in place, violence is an everyday fact of life in our worlds.