Family Service Center (FSC)

[FAN] An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment
2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Thursday, April 16, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment
A FAN webinar featuring Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., in conversation with Mary C. Commerford, Ph.D.
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/AronFANWebinar
For this event, clinical and research psychologist Elaine Aron, Ph.D., author of the international bestseller The Highly Sensitive Person, will discuss her new book Spirituality Through a Highly Sensitive Lens: An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment. In it she offers the first ever objective overview of meditation methods and paths to enlightenment.
Why spirituality through a “Highly Sensitive Lens”? This is not a book or a talk just for highly sensitive people (HSP), though Aron is one. She reflected on meditation and enlightenment for years and saw a huge need for objective, complete information on all the many kinds of meditation and on all views of enlightenment. There were no books that fully described all forms of meditation and that provided the necessary information to make an informed choice. Further, most people do not realize that every form of meditation began with the purpose that you, the meditator, would reach nirvana. God Realization. Enlightenment. Awakening. Yet meditation teachers often do not talk much about it. They are apprehensive that students will see view it as unattainable or will aim for it and be disappointed.
Aron wants meditation and enlightenment discussed together, as they were meant to be. She maintains that a spiritual supernova exploded in the Sixties, but like a distant supernova, its light has only now reached us. Many
people began meditating back then, and while many stopped, some continued for fifty or more years. Suddenly more people, both meditators and others, are “waking up” to a state of profound inner peace, unshakeable calm, and clearer focus. There are hundreds of books and websites about this person’s enlightenment and that person’s method of getting there, but no overview of this chaos or the actual research on it.
But what about all those unethical spiritual teachers you hear about? Aron is very interested in this issue, explaining that one can “wake up” and still need to “clean up” your complexes. She addresses both in every chapter, and how to avoid being a casualty, whether due to tendencies in a teacher or in yourself.
Aron will be in conversation with Mary Commerford, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and instructor at an analytic training institute in NYC. She was for 21 years the director of the counseling center at Barnard College. Before switching to clinical psychology, trained in ministry at Yale University Divinity School, working subsequently as a chaplain. She has been a member of a meditation community for over 40 years.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel. Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

FSC's Play It Forward | Spring Benefit
2026-04-18 19:00 - 22:30 | Fields Lexus, 2000 Waukegan Road, Glenview, IL, 60025, United States
Play It Forward: A Dueling Pianos Fundraiser
Saturday, April 18, 2026Fields Lexus Glenview | 2000 Waukegan Rd, Glenview7:00–10:30 PM
Attire: Piano-Inspired Chic. Think black and white — classic, bold, and ready for a high-energy night of music and fun.
Two pianos. Two performers. One unforgettable night.
Dueling pianos is a high-energy, all-request show where you help control the music. From classic rock to pop hits to throwback favorites, the performers play what the audience demands — and the louder the room (and the higher the bid), the faster your song makes the setlist.
You’ll want LOTS of Dueling Dollars to request songs, outbid other tables, and rally the crowd. Expect singing, snapping, friendly competition, and a packed dance floor.
Early Bird Ticket Pricing Ends 3/27, register here.

[FAN] The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again
2026-04-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Regina Dominican High School, 701 Locust, Wilmette, IL, 60091
Wednesday, April 29 | 7:00 PM CT
The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again
A FAN in-person featuring Mary Claire Haver, MD, in conversation with Heidi Stevens
Regina Dominican High School, O’Shaughnessy Theater, 701 Locust Rd., Wilmette, IL 60091
No registration required.
Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The New Perimenopause to attendees, while supplies last.
For many women, the years leading up to menopause arrive without warning and without a name. Anxiety, fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, disrupted sleep, volatile moods, and changes in sexual health can surface as early
as a woman’s mid-thirties — well before menstrual irregularity signals that anything hormonal is underway. Too often, those symptoms are dismissed by physicians or misattributed entirely. Mary Claire Haver, MD, has spent her career changing that.
In her new book The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again, Dr. Haver, a board-certified OB/GYN, a certified culinary medicine specialist, a certified menopause provider, and the founder of The ‘Pause Wellness, maps what she calls the hormonal “zone of chaos” — the years of endocrine fluctuation that precede menopause and generate an outsized toll on women’s daily lives. The symptoms are real, they are physiological, and they are manageable. Her book gives women the science, the clinical tools, and the language to insist on care that addresses what their bodies are doing.
The New Perimenopause delivers clear, science-backed explanations of what’s happening in the body across every dimension of the perimenopausal transition — menstrual changes, energy, mood, sleep, and sexual health — alongside a frank account of why addressing these changes now constitutes preventive medicine for the decades ahead. Haver walks women through the latest research on progesterone therapy, including both its benefits and side effects, and equips them with practical tools: checklists, questions to bring to the doctor’s office, and strategies for navigating a medical system that has historically underserved women in midlife. Whether or not a woman has yet noticed any symptoms, the book removes the mystery from this transition and restores the sense of agency that too many women lose during it.
Haver, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The New Menopause and The Galveston Diet, will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. She writes a weekly nationally syndicated column, “Balancing Act.” Stevens has been a FAN board member since 2021.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded but not live streamed and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Beacon Academy, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Wintrust Financial, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.
