Page 6-THE NEWS-August. 1987
Jewish Family Services
Career Testing at Shalom Park
Could this be you?
My job is going nowhere
and I don’t know what to do.”
“My kids are in school, and
1 want a job, but I have not
worked in over ten years.”
“All my life, I planned on be
ing one thing, but despite all
of the training, this career
does not feel right.”
“My spouse died, and I need
to get out of the house and
find a job.”
“I am out of work and don’t
know what career fields would
match my skills and interests.”
If this sounds familiar,
Jewish Family Services can
help with comprehensive
Career Testing. This package
includes two tests: the Self-
Directed Search and the Per
sonal Profile. The Self-
Directed Search (SDS) is a
vocational test based on John
Holland’s theory of careers. It
consists of an assessment
booklet which explores in
terests and abilities. The
results or Holland code is
used with an occupations
finder to provide a range of oc
cupational possibilities.
The Personal Profile is a per
sonality inventory that iden
tifies your work behavioral
style and helps you under
stand the styles of others. It
also helps explain which work
environments, employers and
tasks best suit you. Used
together, these tests can offer
a comprehensive picture of
career options.
The fee for Career Testing is
$45, which is far below the
cost at other area agencies.
This includes all materials as
well as one session for test in
terpretation with Jewish
Family Services Counselor,
Elaine M. Chernotsky. Elaine
has extensive experience in
Career/Life Planning and
worked at the Queens College
Career Center before joining
JFS two years ago. If you are
interested or would like ad
ditional information, please
call Jewish Family Services,
364-6594, to pick up materials
and schedule an appointment.
CAREER TESTING
WHAT:
Includes interpretation of Self-Directed
Search (SDS) and Personal Profile
Inventory (PPI)
HOW MUCH:
$45
HOW:
CaU JFS at 364-6594
Pick up SDS and vocabulary sheet to
PPI and schedule an appointment.
FAMILY TO FAfJILY CONTACT
If you or someone in your family is experiencing a prob
lem with alcohol or drug usage, perhaps it would be helpful
to talk with someone who has also lived with this problem.
There are persons in our Jewish community who have
volunteered to speak with anyone to share mutual
substance abuse experiences to lessen the pain of feeling
“all alone”.
To learn more about this family/individual to individual
contact, please call Adrienne Rosenberg, 364-6594, at
Jewish Family Services. All contacts are confidential.
SPECIAL SURVEY
Jewish Family Services is conducting a survey to assess
community needs for the elderly. If you are providing any
type of assistance to an elderly spouse, parent or friend,
please call Jewish Family Services, 364-6594, and give the
following information:
1. Relationship to senior needing assistance.
2. Age of senior.
3. Services provided by you (i.e., total care, transpor
tation, health, bathing, meals, paying bills or other).
4. Your name if you choose.
Thoughts Front Adrienne
By Adrienne Rosenberg
JFS Director
“I couldn’t possibly have a
drinking problem — I’m
Jewish! Everyone knows that
Jews aren’t ^coholic — I’ve
never known about any Jews
who were — no one in my family
ever had a problem with it,
that I heard about or saw. Of
course, no one ever saw the
worst of my drinking, because
I did it at home alone, at night
when everyone was asleep.
But I shouldn’t be drinking
the way I am, fighting the
urge all day long, and giving
in when nobody can see me. It
must be depression; but the
more depressed I am, the more
i drink and the more I need
that drink, the more depressed
I become. I’m sure I could
stop drinking if I weren’t so
depressed. How could some
thing like this happen to a nice
Jewish lady like me? No, I
can’t be a nice Jewish lady —
Jews don’t have this problem
— everybody knows that.
“The shame I felt when I
first wrestled with the
possibility that I had a drink
ing problem had a lot to do
with being Jewish. It was as if
I had transgressed some basic
tenet of Judaism — Jews don’t
drink. I didn’t fit — I didn’t
belong. My traditional life
style and kosher home began
to seem like a sham. The con
flict and the shame kept me
from sharing my problems
with anybody.
“Even my husband, who
had certainly noticed my
growing depression and dis
traction lately, reacted quite
nonchalantly when I casually
announced I was going to stop
drinking because I thought it
might be becoming a problem.
And why shouldn’t it be? On
social occasions, I was ex
tremely careful not to drink
too much (certainly not as
much as I wanted). I could still
hold off until I got home and
everyone was asleep. But lately,
I was not so sure how much
longer I could keep up that
act.
“I had begun to avoid those
social occasions, for fear some
one would be able to see how
anxious I was and guess why.
I was isolating myself from
the community I had estab
lished my identity in and had
nourished my family in — the
Stay Ahead
of tite Came
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oi optimal physical mental
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Jewish community. My iden
tity as a nice Jewish lady con
flicted with the growing suspi
cion of the severity of my
drinking problem.
“I didn’t feel I could talk to
my rabbi about it. In the ten
years we had attended ser
vices and participated in
synagogue activities, I had
never heard him even tangen-
tially refer to drinking prob
lems among Jews. I was too
ashanned and afraid of his
reaction. My nice Jewish
friends never had discussed
any problem like this with me,
and if 1 told them about the
way I was behaving lately and
my compulsion to drink, I was
sure they "would see how weird
I was and not accept me as one
of them.
“Even the nice Jewish
psychiatrist I tried to call
(when I could muster up the
courage) didn’t return my
calls. I had told his secretary
I was a Jewish lady who
wanted to know if I had a
drinking problem, and when
he didn’t return my calls, it
confirmed nay shame. Obvi
ously, he didn’t think that was
possible, so he didn’t want to
bother with me. Finally, the
secretary, realizing how
desperate I was when I called
the third time, made ar
rangements for me to talk to
an alcoholic counselor at St.
Francis Hospital.
“That seemed appropriate
to me — go to a ‘goyish’
counselor to talk to about a
‘goyish* problem. I talked to
the counselor. He sent me to
Alcoholics Anonymous and
made arrangements for me to
see a therapist in Wilkens-
burg. The A A meetings, mostly
in the basements of churches,
and the sessions with the
therapist in another commu
nity, helped to confirm my
fears that my recovery from
alcoholism wouki necessarily
separate me from my Jewish
identity.”
The above was written in a
TIKVA article. What is
TIKVA? This is a group of
Jewish men and women who
have joined together in the
Pittsburgh area to promote
awareness, education and ac
cess to resources for help with
problems of alcohol and drug
dependence within the Jewish
community. Then there is the
national organization of
JACS, Jewish Alcoholics,
Chemically Dependent and
Significant Others, which pro
vides support and education
for Jewish substance abusers
and their families.
Yes, alcohol and drug prob
lems do exist in Jewish
families in Pittsburgh, New
York, Miami, San Francisco
and, right here in Charlotte!
There is a fantasy, a cultural
self-delusion that Jews do not
abuse alcohol nor take drugs.
Denial is a syndrome of the
disease. For a Jew, denial is
often more intense because we
tend to believe the fantasy.
This means guilt and shame
and not seeking support
within the Jewish community
for the person or family with
this problem.
In December, 1986, Jewish
Family Services began a
substance abuse task force
made up of persons wanting to
address this problem within
the Jewish community. The
purpose is to educate the com
munity about substance
abuse, to promote awareness
that this problem does exist
within our Jewish conmiunity,
and to provide support for any
who need it in a Jewish
context.
If you would like to leam
more about this task force,
please call Adrienne Rosen
berg, 364-6594 or Steve
Newman, 336*2023.
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