Lily Elsohn with Jewish Family Services

Speaker 2 (00:19.682)
This podcast legal advice. Legal cases are the same. Contact an attorney if you require legal assistance.

All right, welcome back to the Mighty Merp podcast. I'm your host, Melissa Rosenblum. And today we're diving into the world of community mental health with someone who's doing incredible work right here in South Jersey. Today I'm talking to Lily Elson, who is the Senior Director of Mental Health Services at Jewish Family Services of Atlantic and Cape May counties. From homelessness outreach to wellness support.

and Jewish Family Service expansion into Kate May. We talk about real life work of supporting mental health beyond therapy office. This episode is packed with hard hope and honesty. So let's get right into it. So Lily, welcome to the Mighty Mart podcast.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here.

So I always like to start with your origin story. So what inspired you to work in mental health?

Speaker 2 (01:26.35)
Wow, yes, great question. So what inspired me was definitely my dad. I grew up with a father who was absolutely amazing, but he also had bipolar disorder. And I knew that from a young age. And I think I always knew I wanted to be in mental health. So I got my bachelor's degree in psychology, got a really deep dive into specific disorders. And then I went back to school to get my master's degree in social work, because I thought it was more broad than going back for...

for therapy specifically, felt like I could do more in the social work field instead of the therapy field. And I've been at JFS for about eight years now.

Okay, so I always like to ask, where did you get your bachelor's degree? Where did you get your master's degree?

Yes, I got both of them at Stockton. I took a year off in between, I got my bachelor's at Stockton back when it was still Stockton College. And then when I went back for my master's, it was Stockton University at that point.

Okay, and you're now senior director at JFS. Yes. And you see some, oversee some vital programs. For those who aren't familiar with Jewish Family Services, can you give a snapshot of what your role looks like day to day?

Speaker 2 (02:35.502)
Sure, so for day to day it's an oversight of the CSS and path program.

I always, whenever we start talking in abbreviations.

Yeah. Acronyms are tough. I'm full of acronyms. So we have the CSS program, which stands for Community Support Services. That program specifically works with adults who have severe and persistent mental illness who are living in the community independently. Most of the clients in that program have diagnoses of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder recurrent, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder.

And the goal of the program, as I said, is really to enhance independence. The people in that program can be with us in CSS for as long as they would like to and as long as they're working on goals. And right now we have a census of over 200, which is really exciting. And the program has really grown over the last couple of years.

And we also have increased our expansion of that program in Cape May County as well. So we're opening up additional clients in CSS in Cape May County. So that's the largest program that I oversee. And then I also oversee the PATH program, which is Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness, which specifically works with adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Atlanta County.

Speaker 2 (03:54.442)
It's a little bit of a smaller program, but absolutely no less vital than any other, I would say, one of the most vital because of the goal to connect to important resources. So we connect people who are experiencing homelessness to obtain ID, to apply for income, connect to mental health treatment, et cetera. And one of the cool things about overseeing those two programs is that maybe when someone becomes housed in the PATH program, they can be then opened in the CSS program and get long-term support.

Right. And so just to go back to both the programs and also JFS, all of JFS is that when you say that you're servicing 200 individuals or the number of individuals that you're servicing in whatever program, I always think that there's confusion with Jewish family services of who we serve in the You can kind of talk about

Yes, definitely.

Speaker 1 (04:49.71)
who qualifies for JFS services and our JFS, the JFS we're talking about is Atlantic and Cape May County. So who would qualify generally for the services that you're discussing?

Generally for the services that I just spoke about for the CSS and path program, it's mainly adults with mental illness, but JFS as a whole serves so many people. So Atlantic and Cape May County, like you said, we provide food bags. We have a very large food pantry. We also have an outpatient counseling department that works with both adults and children. We have programs that specifically work with individuals who are incarcerated, vocational programs, connecting those to employment.

Holocaust survivor. So there are definitely programs almost for everyone, right? So it's a very wide net that we serve.

Right, and to state the obvious is that although it's a Jewish organization, value

Yes, thank you. We accept people of all faiths and all religions. You do not have to be Jewish to be served and you do not have to be Jewish to work at JFS.

Speaker 1 (05:55.032)
Correct. And then the other question always is, is there an income or lack of income requirement? Right. And so I think that's really important to highlight as we're talking so that just so I'm clear and my listeners are clear. So JFS really serves everyone in the Atlanta County and Cape May County community who would be in need of

The services and although we're talking about the services that you oversee and we're going to jump into community support services, which is CSS and path. Which is, I don't know if I'm going to get what path stands for. I know that.

Do you want me to say it? Yes. Projects for assistance in transition from homelessness. It's a mouthful.

I know. I mean, I know that it is helping adults who are struggling or at risk with homelessness, but I was going to say, I don't think I'm going to get the PATHA letters correct. So, but also, as you said, there's a food pantry, there's justice informed services and so many other programs. So let's talk about, I know you generally said the community support services is for adults, individuals.

with struggling with mental health and you provide support services. How would an individual or family connect an individual who might need these services to JFS?

Speaker 2 (07:26.968)
Great question. So they can call our access center directly. They can call our main number at 609-8-1 and they will be connected to our intake department who I believe are taking live calls. So they probably won't have to leave a message. They can actually talk to someone right away, which is a really big deal. And they can ask to be directly referred.

to our CSS program, or they can call and just say they're looking for services and our intake department will do kind of an assessment and get a bunch of information and maybe refer them to CSS as well as another program at JFS or a different program entirely that they feel is more appropriate. So they can be a self-referral and call themselves. If they're connected to family or friends, they can help that person call. If they go to a doctor or a partial care that, you know, the people at those agencies can help.

them call and facilitate that referral as well. We are always accepting referrals for CSS.

Okay. And are the individuals involved in CSS, are they individuals that I know they're living in the community, I guess as you indicated, if they were already housed, they can provide the services. So explain the services and sort of how you're supporting these individuals that are adults that might be struggling with mental health diagnosis.

Yeah, so each client gets assigned a case manager and a clinician. Their clinician is responsible for completing their assessment, which is a very in-depth assessment that gets done at least every six months and then at least every year. So that assessment really breaks down the different dimensions of wellness and helps them to identify what areas maybe they feel like they're not succeeding in their life and where that they want to be. So based off of that assessment, we help them identify goals, which works and develops their treatment plan.

Speaker 2 (09:18.146)
And then the case manager carries out those interventions with them to help them achieve what their goals are. A lot of our clients, help with budgeting, with grocery shopping, connecting to transportation, connecting to mental health providers, medical providers, daily living skills, know, how to cook a healthy meal, how to keep your apartment clean, what you're responsible for on your lease, right?

maybe assisting them with if they have a legal issue they need to follow up on or fine they need to pay. So it's really very individual and specific to that person and whatever they really want to work on.

and how long can they stay in this program.

Another good question, there is no expiration date. So they can be in the CSS program as long as they would like to, as long as they are willing to work on goals with us and are in Atlantic or Cape May County in the community, we will continue to work with them. And a lot of people, a lot of clients in CSS we've had for many years. So it's definitely shown to be successful.

That's great. Do you have any specific stories without revealing any names or anything that you've worked on directly that, you know, afterwards you felt, I will say, especially accomplished or rewarded with, you know? Yeah. And I would say, you know, I'm a criminal defense attorney and there are clients that even having the resolution of their case or assisting them beyond just in the courtroom kind of gives you that feeling.

Speaker 1 (10:51.471)
of truly helping an individual that stays with you a lot longer than just the moment of working with them.

Definitely. So we have one consumer, he was referred from ANCORA, which is a state psychiatric hospital. And we get some of our referrals that way. And he has been living independently in his apartment for over five years. He's been working almost full time. He is his own payee. He manages his own benefits and pays his bills, goes to work. And he also has had some medical issues and he's been working with our nurse educator in our CSS program.

to manage those and has just been really thriving and doing so well with the supports that we've had in place. And it's been really exciting to watch him grow. And we also have another individual whose same thing was referred from a state psychiatric hospital, has been living successfully in the community. He is a Megan's Law consumer. So it's very hard to find housing for individuals who have a legal background, especially Megan's Law.

but we were able to find him stable housing. And he also has a pet that he has in his apartment that they've been living happily together for some time now. And he has not been rehospitalized nor has been re-incarcerated in probably seven or eight years now. So just really exciting.

Yes, it's really good work when you see the change, especially when someone's coming from a state institution. Yeah. Because obviously there was concern about them living. Yeah. Being able to live independently. Okay, let's talk about the PATH program now in a little bit more detail. So as you said, the PATH program focuses on folks who are both on-house or are at risk. Yes. So what are the type of services and support that you're able to provide?

Speaker 2 (12:40.11)
So in the PATH program, we're really providing connection to those vital resources that individuals need. So it might be helping that person get an ID because you can't apply for housing without an ID, right? Or it might be assisting in obtaining a birth certificate, applying for food stamps, applying for income in general, whether at social security or...

temporary rental assistance, something like that, any of those important benefits to be able to get to the next step in their lives. We also connect individuals in the PATH program to mental health resources too. We recently have been able to refer to our psychiatrist here at JFS for meds only, which has been really exciting and I think helpful in expanding our services and also providing more to individuals in need.

And there's also a level of outreach with PATH. So we're going out into the community, teaming with police at times to go into the woods if there is maybe an encampment there to try to connect people to resources or under the boardwalk or on the street.

I mean, you're dealing with a definitely vulnerable group of people and it's definitely delicate work. How do you create a trust with those individuals, especially the ones where you're coming upon them in places like under the boardwalk in Atlantic city or in the woods, and you might be there with police presence as well because

Very.

Speaker 1 (14:12.524)
I'm sure that there's always concern with those individuals that there's a potential that they're going to be arrested or incarcerated at those times. So how do you build a bridge of trust with them?

It's definitely a challenge, but it is the most important thing is to build that rapport with the person and have them trust you. Otherwise you're not going to be able to get to the next step. It doesn't always happen the first time. So we kind of abide by the philosophy of never giving up, never giving up on the person and never giving up on being able to help them, regardless of how many times we've tried or how many times maybe they've said, no thanks. You they have the right to say no thanks. I don't want your help, but.

We keep coming back and sometimes it takes 20 times until they're wanting to accept help. Being very upfront and transparent and honest is huge in building rapport. Being just very casual at times as well and showing them that you're just a human to human trying to help them in any way that you might be able to. But that real fear of getting in trouble is definitely there. We just keep trying.

Right. And again, those are usually in conjunction with other stakeholders in our community, correct?

Yep, with other police or other agencies at times, yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:26.126)
Do you have any stories of clients or individuals that you've helped after meeting them three times, five times, I'm sure 20 times where they reached out and said and asked for help or that you were able to kind of connect them to housing or food stamps or just even being able to fill out the applications in order to get Medicaid or support?

for that.

Speaker 2 (15:52.472)
All of those things are so huge. We do have one consumer who he's been homeless for a very long time.

He's very, very sick. He has schizophrenia. He does not take medication, which is his right, but he's mainly, he's out on the street. If you're in Atlantic City, you've probably seen him walking at some point or another and just allowing him to work with us to get his birth certificate was a huge win because he had lost it multiple times. We were able to sit with him here at the office and get a laptop out and complete that application. So we were able to at least make progress.

towards housing for him. He still is unhoused and he might never get housed, but he continues to work with us and meet with us every week. And so I take that as a win.

It is a win. And I think people might not realize that if you don't have documents establishing who you are or an ID, that it really creates so many additional barriers.

Yeah. And there's so many challenges in just navigating those systems. sometimes you get stuck in a catch-22, like in order to get this document, I need that document. So you, I mean, you and I know we don't like being moved around from different departments and different, you know, people, let's say you have to go to them, you have to go over there. So our clients don't like that either. And they're dealing with additional challenges. So part of what the PATH program is designed for is to help people really navigate through those barriers.

Speaker 1 (17:15.182)
Correct. And some people don't even know where to begin to try to a birth certificate. It is, or to get any ID. And so it's amazing how just a few simple things like that can make a huge difference. It's great that that gentleman knows that even if he's not utilizing all the services, that there's still a place that he can go to even have questions answered or

It's overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (17:30.328)
That's an out.

Speaker 2 (17:35.758)
huh.

Speaker 1 (17:43.828)
use the food pantry if necessary or anything else that JFS has to offer. We recently, JFS recently expanded into Cape May County. And can you just share with what led to that move and sort of how, I think it's been maybe six to eight months now that we're in a new building. JFS is in a new building. So can you talk about what led to the move and sort of how I'll say the last year has been going? Cause I think

Yes.

Speaker 1 (18:13.492)
even getting the building up and furnished probably has been over a year now, right?

I the grand opening was September of last year, time flies. And we were doing, you we were providing services in Cape May County before that office, but that was part of the expansion for sure. So we were finding, you know, an increase in referrals and need for the kind of supports that we provide in that county. We were already providing some services in a few of our programs and had a connection to other providers and other agencies in Cape May County. So.

You know, we decided to open a new office in order to have more of a home base and a presence in the area. Have more room for staff to work from their new office is beautiful. I encourage you to go look at it if you haven't to any viewers out there. It's a beautiful, beautiful office. We have our two outpatient therapists who are stationed there a few days a week who do trauma informed cognitive behavioral therapy. I'm not going to say the acronym. I'm going to say it out, but it's TFCBT to

Children today, trauma counseling for children and they're both fantastic. They're they're amazing. We also have our associate director Heather Riley, who her office is there and then we have staff who were working out in the field who use that office as their home base or to meet with consumers to take their break, etc. So it's been really exciting. I can't believe it's already been as long as it has, but we've also definitely seen an increase in the services we're providing since our our office opening and I think.

that with the office there, now people really see a true presence of JFS in Cape May County.

Speaker 2 (19:52.11)
Oh, sorry, you froze for a sec. I was gonna say we also have our Sprinter van as well. So we drive that around at times and take that to events. So you may have seen that as well.

no, I have seen it. everyone what the Sprinter Van is. is something that I know individuals at JFS who assisted in getting the Sprinter Van are very proud of.

It's hard to know.

Speaker 2 (20:12.078)
Yes, it's hard to miss. It's a very large van with the JFS logo and graphics on the side. And we can use it for a number of different things for outreach events. So going to different events to provide a service advertising, it's definitely great for that as well. We had it at the office opening and we've taken it to events in the community. There was a large push in January of this past of 2025 to help enroll individuals.

in an application process to be selected for housing vouchers. So we utilized the van to try to get to as many individuals as we could to help them apply. And some individuals that we assisted were selected. So it was great.

And there's a working, you can actually, there's a desk in there. You can have meetings in there.

You can actually sit in there. Yep. It is. I learned how to drive it. That was a fun day. It's a large vehicle, but it's definitely, it's awesome. It's really great.

My first car was a 73 Ford Gran Torino, which is a very large vehicle. And for everyone listening, it was pink, just... I know, shocking, but it was huge. It was like a...

Speaker 2 (21:18.422)
Yes.

Speaker 2 (21:23.578)
I'm surprised. I'm shocked.

Speaker 2 (21:28.578)
You're confident that would not have been my first car.

No, I don't think I didn't have a choice of the car. My parents were like, we have this 73 Ford Gran Torino. Here you go. You can paint it any color. was not a pink girl at the time. was an athlete. I was a jock and I was a little sassy. I said to my dad, it's a 73 Ford Gran Torino. I don't care. You could paint it pink. And he did.

Okay, so.

Speaker 2 (21:57.952)
And is that where the pink began?

I it's just come in all throughout the years unbeknownst. But my point is, that it was such a big car. It was so wide and long that I was in the JFS van and I looked at it and everyone was saying how stressful they thought it would be to drive the car. And I was like, I think I could drive this without.

Yes.

You have to be careful turning because if you turn too hard you'll feel like you will tip over. It's very, you just go extra slow.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't have realized that because of the height, but it is a really impressive van because you could have food in it and deliver food. But there were also enough room for a table for individuals to have privacy to meet with JFS workers for whatever their needs were. So let me ask you a few general questions about mental health and you've. Yes.

Speaker 2 (22:57.43)
Okay. Is that it? Yeah. Thank you.

been in the mental health space for a long time. would say even before you were working in the mental health space, you have been dealing with mental health for most of your life. How have attitudes about mental health, how do you feel that attitudes about mental health have changed over the years?

So I feel as though as a society we are doing better in our perception and our feelings on mental health. I don't feel like we're there yet. There is still a lot of stigma that exists in the community, in the world in general about mental health. We often treat mental health much different than we do physical health. So if someone is diagnosed with cancer, for example, we...

wrap that person in supports, there's sympathy, there's food that we bring to that person's home. There's, you know, people reaching out saying, how can I help? What can I do? If someone is diagnosed with schizophrenia, that is not often the response that is received. So I think that with a lot of education and information, have come a long way. I think we still have a long ways to go, just from what I see in the community, but a lot of efforts have improved the

perception of mental health. One of the events that JFS participates in very in depth is CIT, which is crisis intervention training. It's a partnership between mental health and police. And we provide some of the training on that. We just did that in Cape May County specifically. And I think that helps to reduce stigma for everyone. But you still see the stigma in TV, in the newspaper.

Speaker 2 (24:41.152)
I actually, for my college, I don't know what you would call it, and there I said again, for my college final paper, we had to write like a 45 page paper and I wrote mine all of, it was called a capstone project, and I wrote mine about the perception of mental illness in the media. Because if you think about a show like Law and Order, your defense attorney, right, think about Law and Order, when there is something brought up about mental health, it's only a negative.

perception. It's connecting mental health to violence. By the way, a lot of people don't know this and don't realize it, individuals who have mental illness are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. But that's a big misconception.

So Lily, I'm gonna share two personal thoughts when we talk about the perception and also your position about the way we treat mental health differently than physical health. So two personal stories. One on the positive. I have a child who

is in college and is approximately 20 years old. They just finished their sophomore year in college. And I will say one of the big positive of this generation is that they are open to talking about mental health and they are very accepting and they don't see it as a flaw. Kudos to them.

They talk about anxiety and depression as you and I might've talked about a cold. I, at 53, just recently have been able to say I needed to talk to a therapist to deal with the loss of my mom or to deal with all the stresses. I think my generation really still struggles with acknowledging the mental health issues where

Speaker 1 (26:47.916)
my 20 year old and my kids of that generation I have four are very open about it. Open about not just the diagnosis, the medicine, the treatment and what has effectively worked for them. So I see that as a positive moving forward.

Absolutely. I'm sorry, the younger generation is definitely more open and seeking out services, specifically therapy, so much more than the older generation. And it's really amazing to see.

But so that's one thing I was thinking when you were talking. The second is the mental health diagnosis versus the cancer diagnosis. And I will say when one of my kids was 12, they struggled through mental health issues. And it was so disheartening of so many people who pulled away.

Yeah.

and the lack of support that my family received in the community when my child was hospitalized three times in three months. And I would say if this child was diagnosed with cancer, the whole community would have been calling and asking how they could support me and my three other children.

Speaker 1 (28:10.146)
and if they could drop food off or they could. And it was really hard. This is a long time ago. All my kids are adults now. They're all doing very well. And so it was about 10 years ago, but at the time it was really this realization that the community and the larger population was not okay with dealing with mental health.

very worried about it being contagious, very worried about the ramifications of the other children. So I really understood everything that you were saying regarding the perception and the attitude towards mental health. Do you think there's myths and misconceptions that still exist? You did talk about the one which is people think that if you

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:04.352)
are diagnosed with the mental health issue that you have a higher risk of becoming violent.

That's definitely one that I see a lot. I think that that again, it comes from misinformation, comes from perception, portrayal in the media or just different stories that people may hear. Another misconception I think I find is that the belief that people don't get better, right? So it might always be there, but just like medical illnesses, people can recover and get better and thrive.

There are a lot of clients that we work with in the community that you wouldn't know that they had any kind of mental illness. You wouldn't know that they were hospitalized two years ago at an Angkor Psychiatric Hospital. You wouldn't know that they have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. They're just like me and you, and they're taking medication and going to therapy and doing what they're supposed to do, and they're thriving and doing really great. So there are those success stories, and I think that's.

part of where the misconceptions and the myths come from is we only hear about the scary things and the sad stories and the negative outcomes. We don't hear the happy endings.

And there are a lot of professionals that have diagnosis of mental health, such as bipolar, and they take medicine and they're able to be very successful. Let's be real right now and talk about the biggest hurdles that you and your team are facing doing this work right now.

Speaker 2 (30:36.962)
Definitely my team would be very angry if I did not say that housing is probably the biggest hurdle that we face. with both programs that I mentioned, the PATH program and the CSS program, housing is a big piece of it. We help people find housing. We help people maintain that housing and avoid eviction. We help people move to new housing. And the bottom line is theirs is not enough of it.

in Atlantic or Cape May County. Cape May County is especially challenging. There is not enough housing out there in general at any price point. Let's just start with that. And then if we factor in that the individuals that we're working with may be on social security and getting very limited income or may have a housing voucher, which is great, but the housing voucher will only pay up to a certain amount. So now you shrunk that small pool even smaller.

and they have very few options and that that's really what I think is the biggest thing we're facing right now, unfortunately.

So my next question is teeing it up for you, which is if you had a magic wand and you can fix one thing.

I would just make hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of units in Atlantic and Cape May County just magically appear as well as additional supports to help those people remain housed because we try to whenever someone is maybe pending eviction, we wrap them in supports to try to do whatever we can to avoid that because once they become unhoused, it is so hard to get them back and to find new housing.

Speaker 2 (32:12.712)
But Magic Wand, definitely building a million housing units. Yes, thank you.

I I could. So are there any new ideas regarding expansion or where these programs are going? Or are we right now in a good place of just moving forward because we've already just expanded in.

I think we're in a good place. I do think we're continuing to expand in Cape May. We're continuing to meet with the partners there who do similar work to us, who do work that complements ours and we can kind of team up. So as we're continuing to facilitate those relationships and build those bridges, we're seeing an increase in services and getting new ideas and things rolling as to how we can continue to expand and grow and meet the needs of the community.

How can listeners support the work you're doing, JFS? I know there's volunteering opportunities. I know there's donating opportunities. What you're doing right now about spreading awareness. Is there any other ideas that you would have?

Those are definitely great places to start donations, spreading awareness. I think just being humble, being open, reducing stigma, offering when you see someone on the street that you think might need a little something, be kind, offer help, give them our phone number, give them another agency's phone number. know, treat them the way that you would want to treat your family member if you were going through a hard time.

Speaker 1 (33:44.783)
message you would want people to walk away from when it comes to mental health in their community.

such as hard.

I think have empathy. Really try to put yourself in that person's shoes. I have to remind myself of that sometime. Like you said, I've been in mental health since before I was in college and before I went to school for mental health. And it's not easy. There are days when you're drained. There are days when you have bad outcomes. So maybe the person you've been trying to help every day made a not great decision and the outcome wasn't what you'd hoped it would be.

Those are bad days, I know.

Yes, it's hard and the days when they're given rewards make those bad days worth it. But when I may be talking to a consumer and I'm getting frustrated or I've had a really hard day, I try to put myself in the shoes of that person and think about their suffering from maybe hallucinations, delusions, whatever it be. I try to think about what would it be like to be them and be living in their brain for that day and how hard and scary that might be. And that kind of helps me reset a little bit and take a breath. So

Speaker 2 (34:54.83)
When you see that person who maybe has mental illness or you hear about that or you think about it, just think how hard it is for maybe what they're going through and have that empathy and compassion. Thank you.

so much for your time, Willie. Is there anything else you want to add?

I don't think so thank you I just really appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you for all you do for Jewish Family Services. It's a hard job, but I know it is truly helping people one-on-one on individual levels and making a true difference in lives of those individuals in our community. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. It's a great organization to work for. feel very lucky to have the opportunity to represent the agency. So thank you, Tom.

Speaker 1 (35:35.358)
how brilliant we were.