The JCC Teen Worker: A Model for Professional Practice


 

Publication Date: June 1998

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Jay Sweifach

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: Social Services; Jewish Identification; Youth

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

One reason why many JCCs are failing to serve adolescents effectively is the decline in the number of social workers employed as teen workers. Social work practice is based on several key values—self-determination, group work, the professional self, and diagnostic skills—that are crucial to successful engagement with adolescents. By using social work as a method and Jewish identity building as a function, strengthening Jewish identity becomes a natural byproduct.

In Journal of Jewish Communal Service, v.74 no.4, Summer 1998.