This past year living abroad in Easten Europe was the best and most challenging year of life. I learned a lot about myself and about a new and very different culture. As my year began winding down I started thinking of what to do next. I have always wanted to be a therapist and although I have loved teaching this past year it has convinced me even more about my desire to work with people in a therapeutic setting. My favorite part of teaching has been connecting with students one on one and listening to the issues that arise with adolescence.
After reflection I decided the next step for my growth was AVODAH, the Jewish americorps. AVODAH is broken down into two parts. One is communal living and education about social justice through a jewish lens and the other is each member’s various americorps placement doing social justice work. I will be working at Trilogy in Chicago. Trilogy is a behavioral healthcare organization that serves mentally ill patients within Rogers Park, Chicago and the surrounding areas. The population being served are individuals with long term mental illness who often have co-occurring substance abuse problems. What inspires me to work with Trilogy is that the goal is to empower the patients to recognize their own strength and take on their own recovery by utilizing this strength. The organization recognizes that recovery is possible with the right tools and support. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpYHiwCozb0)
At Trilogy I will be a recovery counselor for about 18 clients. I will get to know these clients personally and will help them to get back on medication, find fulfilling employment and improve their living situations.
I am excited about working at Trilogy and finding ways to help this population learn about themselves and recognize their own capacity for success. But, most importantly, I am excited to be doing this work through an organization like AVODAH. AVODAH is a unique organization that gathers like minded individuals together to create a community and helps these individuals pursue work that inspires them. As corps members we will all be living together, but doing different social justice and social action work. What is amazing is that we will all be doing work that helps improve the world in some way but we will all be doing work that helps us grow as well and discuss this growth as a community.
The kind of work AVODAH does requires help and funding. AVODAH provides 75 corps members work at 75 amazing non profits across Chicago, NYC, New Orleans, and DC to help fight mental illness, poverty, education disparities, housing issues, healthcare and much more. Before my year of service begins at the end of August, I am fundraising so that AVODAH can continue to support corps members such as myself working as low cost employees for these organizations. My personal goal is 1500 dollars. Every dollar counts and if you don’t have a lot to give you can still make a big change with a small amount.
I recognize that you are constantly giving and supporting various causes and I was hoping that learning about AVODAH might inspire you to think about a new charity. I've set up a webpage where you can learn more and make a contribution online: https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/avodah/Fundraiser/AvivaRosenberg I would be honored if you even simply took the time to read about the organizations I will be working with. It would mean a lot to me if you could give but feel free to email me or call me if you want to talk further.
I hope that this year of service will be as interesting to all of you as my adventures in Bulgaria - and that you will keep on following and supporting me.
