About the project
The Ma’aneh (Response) Youth Counseling Center was established in 1989 on Yo’el Solomon Street in Nachalat Shiva to help at-risk youth and the municipal staff who worked with them. At the time, nearly 100 staff members of the Unit for the Advancement of Teenagers and Young Adults worked with more than 1,300 youth, aged 14 to 26. Ma’aneh provided crisis intervention for the teenagers and served as a training center for staff to renew skills and learn new treatment techniques. The Jerusalem Foundation supported renovations and equipment purchase to establish the center and supported programs. In 2002, the Foundation supported renovation of a facility on the Jaffa Street side of the Jerusalem Regional Police Headquarters as a new home for Ma’aneh, which it rededicated as the Edelstein Youth Counseling Center. The center operates a walk-in clinic, one-on-one counseling and support groups run by psychologists and social workers, including Russian-speaking professionals. It provides its free services to teens struggling with issues ranging from new immigrants’ feelings of isolation to drug use, eating disorders and anxiety resulting from the security situation.
