Family Service League Iovino Family Center

Ombudsman Program, run by Elizabeth Maxim, is fantastic. They are a great resource to people who are in need of help when an assisted living facility, in this case The Arbors at Hauppauge, are mentally/emotionally abusing your family and trying to take advantage of elderly. Thanks for the help and guidance!

I've been getting services from this place since I was 12 years old, case management, psychiatry, therapy, and worked with my mom until I became 18 before it became individual. My overall experience was a lot.

Positives: I really loved my meetings with the therapist, then-case manager, and psychiatrist. I feel like I've made improvements when it comes to having healthier coping mechanisms, challenging my irrational thinking, attending fun events, giving me short-term relief through events and exploring local areas, recognizing my own needs, and allowing me to function better in social situations and communicate more effectively. The case manager was also very understanding when I made the decision to change from family to be individualized when I became 18 due to my mom's negative reaction and how, despite what she says to them, she has shown no interest or drive in applying her advice.

I also appreciate the psychiatrist being able to contact my insurance company when they initially denied my prescription despite providing me with psychiatry in the past. She was very attentive, aware of my background, and a pleasure to speak with. She and the first case manager were the most understanding of my side, feelings, and culture.

They were very understanding when I communicated concerns that will be mentioned in the negatives section and are currently helping me find services to transfer to.

Negatives: A few months ago, I was unexpectedly switched from my then-case manager to someone completely different. Personally, I have not been able to feel any sort of connection with her. The sessions are substantially shorter than with the first (10–15 minutes VS an hour), and when I try to tell her something, she asks me if I told someone else, what they said, and whether she agrees with them or not. I feel like I can't tell her much, and that the few times we have, nothing gets done. She was also the biggest offender of the main reason I decided to make the decision to discontinue all services:

I'm now 20 going on 21, and I felt like, while I made improvements on other aspects of my life, I've never been able to fully process my deep-rooted trauma and my strained relationship with my mom. When my services revolved around both myself and my mom, my mom was highly unresponsive to the feedback given by the case manager and multiple arguments were sprouted as a result. There were several times when I felt my mom wasn't being fully honest to these people, yet I'd constantly feel like I was at fault. Even when it has been shifted to individual treatment, I felt extremely uncomfortable sharing it, as there were a few sessions when I felt that my feelings weren't fully listened to and that my mom's input and influence likely made them biased. Even after they all reassured me, they've kept asking me if they could get my mom's side, which I would refuse each time, and many of these discussions. I do recognize this is a circumstance outside the workers' control, and I'm deeply saddened about how much of an effect it had on my experience.

FSL, thank you for all the positive change you managed to give me for so many years. I'm just really sad to know that I now have to look elsewhere for my own well-being, but I hope you all do well!

To whom it may concern,

I feel like not enough people go out of their way to give appreciation!

Jennifer Fridenberger is definitely someone anyone is lucky to have in their corner. Over the last year having her as my case worker I’ve had more support and gotten through some of the hardest times. She’s always looking for ways to go above and beyond, you can tell she belongs in a job helping people, her passion for it is clearly visible.

I just wanted to take a brief moment to say thank you,

Shout out to Vikki Valente for ACM program too, because when I had an issue with my previous caseworker when Jennifer was re assigned temporarily she reassured me I would be taken care of and she was right.

Thanks again guys.

- Heather DeJesus