For over 150 years, the Jewish Family Services (JFS) has been providing compassionate social services that improves the lives of countless men, women, and children of all religions, ethnicities and ages. JFS is Los Angeles' oldest charitable organization and has been working under their founders' mandate to improve the quality of life for people of all generations and walks of life, no matter what their ethnicity or religion.
The Jewish Family Services of L.A. (JFSLA) has been working with the Iranian community since the early 1980's via their Immigration and Resettlement program. To date JFSLA has helped resettle over 50,000 Iranian refugees to the L.A. area.
In June of 2012, JFSLA extended their Under Represented Ethnic Population (UREP) program to include low-income members of the Farsi-speaking community (which includes Iranians, Assyrians, and among others, Armenians). UREP, a program funded by the L.A. County Department of Mental Health, provides psychotherapy and case management to people of all ages and all religious backgrounds. JFSLA also provides access to medical services, psychiatry/medication management, and culturally relevant alternative treatments, including Persian-language meditation sessions and Shabeh Sher events for their clients. The Jewish Family Services of L.A. is a non-sectarian organization and the clinicians are of various religious backgrounds.
Despite the stigma around mental illness in the Iranian American community, JFSLA has received a great amount of support from the Iranian community in southern California. In addition to UREP, JFSLA, for the last ten years, has provided the Yaran Iranian Helpline and peer counseling services for Iranians seeking counseling in social services. This helpline serves over 2,500 Iranians per year.
For more information please visit the Jewish Family Services of L.A. website.