Barbara Kuhn is New Director of Jewish Family Service
Human Service Organization Welcomes Longtime Clinical Social Worker and Staffer to New Position
Barbara Kuhn, LCSW, has been named Director of Jewish Family Service, a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara.
Barbara has been a clinical social worker at JFS since 2003. Barbara received her Master’s Degree in Social Work in 1977 from Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston, and since that time has worked in a variety of settings in the U.S. and in Canada. She has honed her skills working in in-patient psychiatry, medical settings, residential treatment programs for children, and protective services, as well as family service agencies in Boston, Ontario, Canada and in Santa Barbara. In her free time, she works on her art; she loves to draw, paint, and create art quilts. She lives with her husband Peter, and has two sons, Michael and Jon.
Barbara’s goals for her new role at JFS include researching unmet social service and counseling needs in the Jewish community and in Santa Barbara at large, and creating programs to meet those needs. “I feel honored to be given this opportunity to work with the staff and leadership at Federation,” said Barbara. “I look forward to reaching out to the community, and to collaborating with other agencies as the new JFS Director, and to providing programs that will make a difference in the lives of individuals and families in Greater Santa Barbara.”
“Barbara brings a wealth of clinical experience to her new position as the JFS Director,” said Carol Spungen, JFS Committee Chair, and JFGSB board member. “I am looking forward to working with her as she continues the many excellent programs already existing through Jewish Family Service, in addition to using her own style and creativity to develop new programs to meet the social service needs of the Santa Barbara community.”
The mission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara is to raise and distribute funds to subsidize numerous community agencies and organizations whose programs and social services benefit those in need locally, in Israel, and around the world. Cultural, social welfare and educational programs and classes sponsored by Jewish Federation are open to all, often free of charge.
The Bronfman Family Jewish Community Center also provides these programs:
– Jewish Family Service: Individual, family, and group counseling, social services, educational, and social programs;
– Portraits of Survival, a photographic exhibition of Santa Barbara survivors and refugees of the Holocaust, plus an educational outreach program, exploring concepts of discrimination.
More information on Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara is available online or call 805.957.1115.
