Isaac Hellman, LCSW and Avi Shteingart LCSW, CSAT interview with Nachum Segal

Avi steingard is here psychotherapist social worker specializing in addiction depression and anxiety Avi welcome to the show thank you for having me nice to have you here Isaac Hellman is here also social workers specializing in addiction and depression I moved in refers cases to both of these gentlemen Isaac welcome to the show as well um well the two of you could certainly address some of the concerns that are going on in our community and Avi will start with you um as much as ahmudim does and as many cases they send your way and the way of other Professionals in this field I would imagine that if they had the resources they'd be able to send even more people to professionals like yourself how rampant are these situations in our community well Isaac and I are getting calls almost every day that we're trying to connect it's a two-way relationship with ahmud and mahmudim calls us but we're often calling case managers at a mudim to get help with where we could put connect people who are calling us um even if it's family members just last week I had a call with uh Sarah Kagan to speak with her about a family member connecting a family member of mine with the case manager it's you know it's non-stop whether it's finding resources for financing or the proper therapist or a program for someone we're always trying to find someone Isaac will you trained for this was it much different then has it accelerated like crazy from that period of time that's a good question I don't think you're ever trained for this I think it's something that we're constantly learning and I think that you know I I question what we did before I moved in um just like for example project Hill and of the Wine Garden and you know what they've done for victims or survivors of sexual abuse to me it's it's it's not even a question Avi and I are here not just for ourselves but for support of this place I moved in which has done so much for the Jewish Community I don't know what we did before that it's interesting over so many years certainly when I was growing up the the impression or the Assumption was that these types of situations do not exist in our community and we've gotten to a point thank God we're it's out in the open I don't know is it out in the open to the extent that it should be it's it's definitely in the community that that we work in I think it's uh definitely more seen but I work in some communities where it's not uh it's not as visible there's still work to do getting the message out to realize you know rub on him and and Community leaders to really understand to take this seriously um I think we therapists like you said we weren't trained to expect all of this but we're definitely seeing it every single day right there are some patients clients that you could spend a tremendous amount of time with where the struggle or the um the process for them is just you could take I assume months or years right absolutely and I think one of the benefits that we've experienced and I speak lobbying myself of working with amudum is having that type of case manager I can tell you that there are clients I've worked with for three four years that I'm still talking to the case manager whether it be Miriam linequery whether it be um Susie naftali there are so many really really you know the case managers are almost that that missing piece because we can only do so much if we meet for an hour a week we meet twice a week whatever it might be but that extra piece of support and it's not always therapy sometimes people just need more you know I'm going to ask both of you this question because SV and I speak luck concentrated on this point both yesterday when we started the live stream and earlier tonight I don't know how you are able to end your day after having been inundated with all the problems that are going on in our community because when you see clients really all of the difficulties in our community are encapsulated and these individuals that you're working with right are there victories are there is there tremendous progress that's made on a regular basis that keeps you going in a positive manner for sure for sure I mean Isaac and I are our business partners we we have a very similar style and we're very out of the box working with clients I'll go to clients uh if they're simcos like if they're getting married oh that's nice you know I work with a client for three four years and you know we finished a year later it'll text me for his address and say you know can you come come to my wedding and if you see that success that Victory Isaac what do you think I think the victories are there I think it's are we willing to see them and I think are people willing to invest in them because I think at the same time there are also the stories that are negative and there are stories where people relapse or people fall back to negative behaviors but I think that the victories are on a daily basis and I think for every step that someone's willing to be brave and kind of face those demons and face those traumas I think that Victory is there every day anything shock you at this point anymore or you've seen it all as the expression goes um definitely see seen a lot but there's always you know someone new coming in a new a new person um that are you surprised that so many clients are the I would have to assume this is true and you'll tell me if I'm right but it would seem to me that the the age of the clients continues to get lower and lower is there more intervention necessary because there are kids in really challenging situations these days I I think the exciting thing is that we're addressing it with with kids and so kids are coming in you know earlier if there's uh and their parents recognize the problem yeah of course as parents are the problem I get it you know but parents recognizing that it's a it's a problem you know as opposed to like you know hopefully they won't do anything hopefully you know things will be addressed um so recognizing that you know people need help I think a lot of that is just because the organizations like uh the structure of ahmudim is tremendous is a tremendous benefit to our community we talk about offices worldwide Etc and that's all wonderful but the the nuts and bolts of what they do on a daily basis in all of these places is what's really keeping the organization at the Forefront uh it's there what seems to me this this organized effort they have uh the case managers as you described and following up on on everybody whenever necessary no matter what age they may be if it's a family it's an individual Etc that whole structure that whole system just seems to be working so well yeah that or or you know having uh speeches in the neighborhood right in all different neighborhoods to really promote it even just after some of the videos that move them has done I'll get calls and be like my son had a drink this job it says he an alcoholic and I'm like no that's okay you know you should maybe monitor it but at least there's that awareness now and at least people are talking about it or where in the past you know Jewels would just go on and on and on and people would just let things flow people are paying attention now and I think that's really what we need for our kids is just to be paying attention there are certain unhealthy traditions in our culture that it would be a good idea if they changed it up a bit right it would be a good idea if certain things we're eliminated certain things we're tweaked like sometimes when you keep things the way they are I mean the alcoholism obviously is is what I'm referencing here but there are other situations as well I would think that you know if we would pay more attention to the direction that our culture is going in we'd be a little bit more careful and adjust things accordingly yeah I mean I'm seeing that with uh even even marijuana being right so very good example um casual right in our from Community right whether it's teenagers accessible ability or even uh adults when kids are around I'm seeing it a lot more so it's kind of like shifted alcohol plus I don't know if that's the same yeah both from the same token I've seen also with like sexual abuse where in the past it would be sort of kind of pushed under the carpet a little bit so to speak I feel like we're finding the right words to say to people and we're actually encouraging them and as opposed to shaming them and you know dealing with it in a healthier way so yeah we have both sides but I do see a lot of progress there has the explosion online gambling seeped into our community in a negative fashion that that's that's for sure whether it's in the from Community or or outside where both of us are getting calls um pretty regularly um you know I have a teenager who lost a hundred thousand dollars in six months um just you know sports betting yeah and it's so so accessible and I don't even know if I could blame them frankly with with what's happened here it's completely deregulated and the way they bring you in they offer you free money yeah and people are just even young kids and you know especially play Fantasy Football so there's not that much of a jump to Fantasy betting and it gets really really dangerous uh yet another thing we should keep in mind uh as we sit here tonight and address parents and leaders in the community rabbis Etc uh just add that add that to the list of things we need to be concerned about the online gambling the accessibility of gambling via Telephone by by a cell phone more accurately uh is really out of control and these two gentlemen have just um have just confirmed that my thanks to both Avi steingard and um and to Isaac Hellman thank you to both of you I know you both joined me in encouraging everybody to support the great work of ahmudin foreign [Music]