Counseling

Meeting you where you are

JFCS’ Counseling program provides compassionate, person-centered, trauma-informed mental-health services to adults, children, teens, couples and families facing life’s challenges. Our priority is to provide support based on trust, empathy and understanding to ensure that our clients feel safe, empowered and able to make progress toward their goals.

Our Counseling team – with combined 50 years’ experience – and program:

  • Include licensed and master’s level providers (MSWs and LCSWs)
  • Provide culturally competent, confidential and effective services
  • Offer our clients as many treatment options as possible
  • Accept private pay, sliding scale, Medicare and secondary insurance, as well as commercial insurance according to plan provision
  • Meet clients where they are
L to R: Laura Cohen, Douglass Ruth, Missy Fry

What does this phrase “meeting you where you are” really mean? 

  • Our clinicians work with clients in the physical space that works best for them and also in their most comfortable emotional space. “It has to do with a person’s right to self-determination that we always honor,” says Missy Fry, LCSW, CAGCS, behavioral health social worker.
  • We see clients by appointment-only at our downtown offices and in our new space at the Eastside Jewish Commons (EJC); in their home when warranted; and online thanks to the advantages of telehealth.

Laura Cohen, LCSW, ACSW, child and family therapist, says, “The power of therapy is being present with that person and in that moment.”

Our counseling services include:

  • Psychotherapy for adults
  • Specialized geriatric psychotherapy
  • Behavior management therapy for children
  • Short-term solution-focused therapy
  • Processing and support groups
  • Psychoeducational groups and presentations
  • Parenting strategy seminars
  • Staff training and development

For more information, click here to contact the Counseling department.

Mental Health SpotlightMental Health Spotlight

In addition to one-on-one psychotherapy, JFCS offers Mental Health Spotlight to shine a light on areas where all people – children through older adults, including self-identified disabled members of our community – struggle and can seek help. Mental Health Spotlight’s goal is community outreach and providing pertinent information about topics our clinicians are tuned in to through their client work.  

Mental Health Spotlight is not one-on-one therapy. It offers groups, workshops and presentations — spaces for anyone in the community to connect with others and share what’s on their mind.

Click here to learn more about this important program or check out our group sessions currently being offered below. 

SPACE: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions

Is your child or teen struggling with anxiety? Is it impacting how you and/or your family function(s)?

If so, consider contacting JFCS’ Child and Family Therapist Laura Cohen, a licensed clinical social worker. She is offering a new treatment option called SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) that provides parents with skills and tools to help their child cope with and overcome anxiety.

Click here to learn more.

Our ongoing, drop-in groups:

Community Connection

Join JFCS for weekly conversations on Zoom: It is a space for anyone in the community to connect with others and share what’s on their mind.

Grief Connection

Grief affects every part of our lives and can be a lonely road to travel. Join us for our monthly grief-processing group for adults. In our virtual sessions, we will have the opportunity to share our own experiences with grief, connect with others, and learn strategies for moving through loss. Click here to learn more.

Cancer Support Group

Community is important. Cancer is lonely. Jewish Family & Child Service has combined these two truths to create this support group open to anyone with a cancer diagnosis. Click here to learn more.

Disability Mental Health Spotlight

Join our Counseling and Disability Support Services programs for an ongoing series of mental health groups for members of the disabled community. We will be discussing strategies for coping with anxiety.

All groups meet on Zoom. Zoom links provided below.

2023 SUPPORT GROUPS CALENDAR

MARCH

Friday, March 3, 10am- 11am
Grief Connection
Click here for Zoom link

Wednesday, March 8, 11am
Cancer Support Group
Click here to learn more and get Zoom link

Friday, March 10, 10am-11am
Community Connection
Click here for Zoom link

Friday, March 17, 10am-11:30am
Mindfulness in Aging with David Molko, LCSW
Location: MJCC, Ballroom B
Refreshments will be provided. Registration is required.
Click here
for more information. Contact Missy via email to register.

Friday, March 24, 10am-11am
Community Connection
Click here for Zoom link

Friday, March 31, 10am-11am
Disability Community Connection
Click here for Zoom link

APRIL

Friday, April 7
NO GROUPS (Passover, Day 2)

Wednesday, April 12, 11am
Cancer Support Group
Click here to learn more and get Zoom link

Friday, April 21, 10am-11am
Community Connection
Click here for Zoom link

Friday, April 28, 10am-11am
Community Connection
Click here for Zoom link

MAY

Friday, May 5, 10am-11am
Grief Connection
Click here for Zoom link

Learn more about our Counseling program:

 

The “C” in JFCS is now firmly in place

Learn more about JFCS’ new full-time child and family therapist

JFCS: the community’s go-to agency for mental health services

Learn more about our mental health services and PCTI approach to care

 

Click here for a list of Behavioral Health Community Resources

Meet Our Counseling Team

 

Douglass Ruth
Douglass Ruth, LCSW, CCTP

Clinical Director

A Duke University grad with a master’s from Smith College School of Social Work, Doug has been with JFCS since 2010 and provides individual, couples and group counseling in addition to supervisory responsibilities. Passionate about providing person-centered, trauma-informed (PCTI) care to his clients, Doug might be equally passionate about his playful dog Balto.

 

Missy Fry
Missy Fry, LCSW, CAGCS

Behavioral Health Social Worker

Missy earned her master’s from Portland State University’s School of Social Work in 2016 and specializes in grief therapy and working with older adults. She also holds a graduate certificate in Gerontology from PSU. Her clinical focus is PCTI and a strengths-based approach to therapy (while also proud to be a natural redhead).

 

Laura Cohen
Laura Cohen, LCSW, ACSW

Child and Family Therapist

In addition to her 30 years’ experience and Hebrew fluency, Laura leans heavily on Jewish values in her PCTI and strengths-based therapeutic work. Learn more about Laura here.

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Missy Fry wins Rogoway Award

Congratulations to Missy Fry, behavioral health social worker, who is the 2022 recipient of the Laurie Rogoway Outstanding Jewish Professional Award, which recognizes a current Jewish communal professional in greater Portland. 

With JFCS for 11 years, Missy is the first therapist to win this award in its eight-year history.