CFAR March 2025 Newsletter

Our team is happy for the warmer spring weather and longer days, and very excited to welcome new interns! It’s challenging to meet the demand for relationship and family therapy, so we are incredibly proud to train so many talented interns. The standards at CFAR are very high, and our culture of learning is important to our success. The reason we work so hard to assure that CFAR services are of the highest quality is to make the biggest impact possible on the lives of the clients we serve. However, it doesn’t hurt to get recognition from Community Behavioral Health, who gave us excellent 2023 program performance scores! We will continue to strive for excellence, even as we face challenges and pursue further growth.

As the Northeast Community continues to struggle in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash, Center for Families and Relationships CEO Jordan Brogan has been working with the leadership of fellow service providers to form the Northeast Service Collaborative. The Northeast Service Collaborative is a group of area human service providers offering a variety of individual and family-focused services, supports and resources to the community at large. Members include CFAR, PATH, NET Centers, CCS, and CORA. Members have a shared vision to combine resources in this time of great need to connect people to the programs and services they desire whenever possible and to avoid duplication of services to ensure greater reach.

The Collaborative will hold resource events for community members at PATH, 1919 Cottman Avenue on Wednesday, March 19 (5:30 to 8:00pm) and Saturday, March 29 (12:30 to 3:00pm.) Staff from each Agency will be present to discuss service options and resource connections in private and confidential consultations. Please share this information widely, and visit our Northeast Collaborative News Post for more information.

CFAR's Together Through Trauma (TTT) program is providing mental health/emotional education workshops for a small group of students in an after school setting, in collaboration with NET Community Care CUA 7. In these EmpowerMe workshops, a trained TTT counselor that specializes in working with youth and families uses engaging activities like journaling, games, art, and movement to cover topics like identity, friendship, family, trauma, and support. Youth have the opportunity to learn how to: grow their self-esteem, build empathy, communicate in a healthy way, manage stress, and how to better understand and manage their emotions. The goal of the program is to help them become stronger on the inside and help them face hard situations. You can visit our TTT pages to learn more about TTT workshops and trainings.

On February 25th, our Children Deserving Services (CDS) Program Director Belen Gomez led a workshop for youth and families around combatting anxiety and managing stress, developed to accommodate Spanish and English speaking participants of all ages. No small feat! CDS is so grateful to Mi Salud Wellness Center, who hosted the workshop. Through this partnership, CDS is better able to reach immigrant communities who need critical mental health supports but have trouble accessing them. Please reach out to cds@cfarcounseling.org for information about the program services and workshops.

CFAR is seeking new board members as we continue to grow our impact in Philadelphia! We are seeking members who are passionate about connecting our most vulnerable communities with high quality mental health services, to help build strength and resiliency in our families and communities. While CFAR is inviting interest from all candidates, we are particularly interested in those who might have background in human resources, communications, fundraising, investments, law, and partnership building. Visit our news page to see the most recent CFAR news, or visit our board page to get to know our current board. They are a smart and dynamic group, and they value innovation and communication as they help to grow CFAR in a mission-focused way. Please reach out to development@cfarcounseling.org for more information.