She’s a counselor, a group leader and a friend

At the Life Enrichment Center in Oyster Bay, the staff makes sure members are comfortable, happy and supported. In March, which was Social Worker Appreciation Month, one member of that staff — Beth Spickler Lerman — stood out.

Born in Port Jefferson Station, Spickler Lerman attended Comsewogue High School there. She always wanted to be a social worker, she said. “I always knew that I wanted to help people,” the 54-year-old explained. “I just fell in love with that idea, of being able to make a difference in someone’s life.”

She studied psychology at Hofstra University, and earned a master’s in social work from Adelphi University.

Spickler Lerman initially thought she would be working with special-needs children. In graduate school she had two internships, the first with special-needs kids and the second at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. Mather hired her while she was still interning there, and she ended up staying for seven years and becoming assistant director of the hospital’s social work department. From there she became the director of social work at the Hebrew Hospital Home in Suffolk County, which is no longer operating. She worked there for another seven years before taking a break to raise a family.

Spickler Lerman now lives in Plainview with her husband, Craig Lerman, a CityMD emergency room doctor. She has three children, one a recent college graduate, another a college student and the youngest a senior in high school.

She went back to work at a grant-funded program at the Mid-Island Y JCC in Plainview. After seven years there, she spent a year and a half looking for something really interesting, she said. In October 2015, she joined the Life Enrichment Center, where she is the social work coordinator.

At the center, Spickler Lerman does a little bit of everything. She helps seniors go through their mail, helps them recognize and avoid scams, connects them with organizations and clinics and even helps them find the newest senior-oriented device.

She is by turns counselor, group leader and friend. And as a licensed divorce counselor and mediator, she works with people inside and outside the center. She leads a women’s group called Women of the Ages and a men’s group called Grumpy Old Men, conducting discussions about everything from personal issues to, yes, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.

“What she does is provide us with a safe environment,” Geri Moretti, a member of Women of the Ages, said. “It’s a forum for us to discuss things we’re not comfortable discussing with anyone else.”

Moretti joined the Women of the Ages in the spring of 2020, when they began holding meetings outside, in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park.

“It’s a place where they can gather and enjoy themselves,” Spickler Lerman said of the meetings, which are now held at the Enrichment Center. “We want to make today a great day, and the group does a really great job of that.”

Her colleagues at the center say she has done a tremendous amount of good work. “Beth is just amazing, as a social worker and someone to work with,” Ann Glynn, executive assistant of administration, said. “The work she does deserves to be highlighted.”

For Spickler Lerman, the most important thing is the rapport she has developed with the seniors. She keeps her office door open, and has listened to members’ reminiscences and helped them deal with personal challenges ranging from divorce to the loss of loved ones.

“The fact they feel comfortable enough that they can come to me with anything, to laugh or cry,” she said, “that really is the most rewarding thing.”