St Francis Center / Long Beach Island Community Center Inc

Counseling Service provides individuals couples and families with affordable professional psychotherapy services addressing a wide range of issues. Goals are to assist program participants with the ability to utilize their families as a resource and source of support; to provide community residents with alternative methods of solving individual relationship and family problems; to strengthen community ties and to enhance the daily functioning of individuals couples and families. A sliding scale fee is available for some services while other funded services are provided without a fee. For this fiscal year we provided 6342units of hourly sessions to 739 unduplicated clients. The counseling service is open from 9AM to 5PM Mondays and Fridays and 9AM to 9PM Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please note that since the Covid 19 we have continued to offer services both in-person and virtually depending on the client's needs and preferences.

The Senior Services Program serves approximately 3,075 elderly clients delivering 19,222 units of service. Of this total 267 are impoverished 1,758 are low income 1,951 are frail or disabled and 2,470 would be classified as vulnerable or socially isolated. The clients have available to them access and assistance with information about benefits and entitlements phone calls made to check on them daily. Assistance is given to help the elderly recognize the need for medical care and physical fitness. Socialization recreation and education are provided.

The Educational & Career Services Dept is comprised of three programs to equip Ocean County residents with the academic and professional skills necessary for self-sufficiency effective parenting and workforce competence. The Adult Basic Skills program offers year-round classes in ABS High School Diploma and ESL primarily referred by Ocean County One Stop. This program enrolls approx. 100 students annually with virtual or in-person classes held M-F. These services extend to the WorkFirst New Jersey population also referred by One-Stop supporting 100 students each year. Services includes basic skills life and job readiness training occupational education and community work experience. All programs are grant funded by the Dept of Human Svcs and come at no cost to the participants. A new Senior Employment Assistance program launched in 2023 funded through ARPA and assists those aged 55+ seeking to reenter the workforce or start a new career.