![Ladies Night Out 2018 at Neiman Marcus Garden City]()
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Aug 3, 2018 | In The Media, Press Releases
NEIMAN MARCUS PARTNERS WITH LOCAL CHARITY FOR LADIES’ NIGHT OUT
Roslyn Heights, NY, August 2, 2018 — North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center held its 5th Annual Ladies’ Night Out event on Thursday evening, July 19th, at the beautiful Neiman Marcus Garden City store. This marked the second year in a row that the Guidance Center partnered with Neiman Marcus in an event that offered exceptional beauty services and raffle opportunities to the women of our local communities and also raised awareness of the programs and services offered by the Guidance Center.
All proceeds from the event will support the Guidance Center’s mission to provide help and healing to children and families dealing with mental health issues and to combat stigma and discrimination. Guests savored delicious small bites from NM Cafe and sipped unique bubbly libations while they were treated to brow shaping and makeovers by Neiman Marcus makeup artists, along with blow-outs and hair styling from Manhasset salon nuBest.
Guidance Center Board President Nancy Lane shares a laugh as she receives her makeover.
Carol Marcell, a member of the Guidance Center’s Board of Directors, brought her mother Joyce Bruno and two of Bruno’s friends. “This was the second time my mom and I attended Ladies’ Night Out, and she didn’t hesitate to accept my invitation once again and to bring along her friends,” says Marcell. “We got our hair blown out by a charming young man from nuBest. And all of us loved looking at the clothes, jewelry and shoes at wonderful Neiman Marcus!”
“Neiman Marcus Garden City is very proud to be a supporter of the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center,” says Doris Wilshere, Vice President, General Manager at Neiman Marcus, Roosevelt Field. “It is our corporate philosophy to support and give back to our local community, particularly with organizations that are centered on children and family. Since our opening in 2016, we have been an ongoing partner with the Guidance Center and will be for the future. We look forward to a growing partnership.”
“The Guidance Center is grateful to the philanthropic team at Neiman Marcus,” says Nancy Lane, Board President. “The events we hold at the store are very special.”
About Us:
As the preeminent not-for-profit children’s mental health agency on Long Island, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is dedicated to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children (from birth – age 24) and their families. Our highly trained staff of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, vocational rehabilitation counselors and other mental health professionals lead the way in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, training, parent education, research and advocacy. The Guidance Center helps children and families address issues such as depression and anxiety; developmental delays; bullying; teen pregnancy; sexual abuse; teen drug and alcohol abuse; and family crises stemming from illness, death, trauma and divorce. For 65years, the Guidance Center has been a place of hope and healing, providing innovative and compassionate treatment to all who enter our doors, regardless of their ability to pay. For more information about the Guidance Center, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org or call (516) 626-1971.
About Neiman Marcus Group:
Neiman Marcus Group LTD LLC is a luxury, multi-branded, omni-channel fashion retailer conducting integrated store and online operations under the Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Last Call, Horchow, CUSP, and mytheresa brand names. For more information, visit www.neimanmarcusgroup.com.
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by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Aug 2, 2018 | Blog
Just a few months after celebrating six years of sobriety, singer Demi Lovato recently relapsed, overdosing on drugs, possibly opioids. As of this writing, she is hospitalized and, though expected to make a full recovery, still in serious condition.
The misuse of prescription medications such opioids has been a top concern for parents in recent years. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, prescription drugs are misused and abused more often than any other drug, except marijuana and alcohol.
Of course, prescription drugs aren’t the only problem. Adolescents are using drugs such as marijuana, Ecstasy, heroin, inhalants and more in alarming numbers.
Teen Drug Use—The Stats
According to the Monitoring the Future project, among 12th-graders during 2017, the drugs that were most reported for lifetime use were:
- Alcohol – 61.5%
- Marijuana – 45%
- ANY illicit drug other than marijuana – 19.5%
- ANY prescription drug – 16.5%
- Amphetamines – 9.2%
- Tranquilizers – 7.5%
- Hallucinogens – 6.7%
- LSD – 5%
- Ecstasy – 4.9%
- Inhalants – 4.9%
Among 10th-graders the 2017 results were:
- Alcohol – 42.2%
- Marijuana – 37%
- ANY illicit drug other than marijuana – 13.7%
- Amphetamines – 8.2%
- Inhalants – 6.1%
- Tranquilizers – 6%
- Hallucinogens – 4.2%
- LSD – 3%
- Ecstasy – 2.8%
- Cocaine – 2.1%
Finally, among 8th-graders in 2017:
- Alcohol – 23.1%
- Marijuana – 13.5%
- ANY illicit drug other than marijuana – 9.3%
- Amphetamines – 5.7%
- Inhalants – 8.9%
- Tranquilizers – 3.4%
- Hallucinogens – 1.9%
- Ecstasy – 1.5%
- LSD – 1.3%
- Cocaine – 1.3%
There are several factors that put your teen at a higher risk of abusing drugs and alcohol, according to Regina Barros-Rivera, Associate Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center. “Kids and teens who are experiencing depression, anxiety, ADHD or a trauma such divorce, abuse or neglect are more prone to experiment with drugs,” she says. “They’re also at greater risk if there is a history of substance abuse in their family.”
Kathy Knaust, Clinical Supervisor at our Leeds Place location in Westbury, says parents should start educating their children when they are young. “One of our main goals is to help build a strong relationship with the parent and child early on,” she explains. “Parents should be aware of the extreme importance of the fact that they are role models to their children. When they help model appropriate responses to stress, disappointments and challenges in their own lives, their children learn to do the same.”
Following are seven tips from MyHealthNews Daily on how to speak with your kids about drugs:
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jul 30, 2018 | In The Media
When faced with an ailing mother and husband, Karen Schief became a caregiver.
“At that point, I didn’t even know there was a name for what it was we did,” the Syosset resident says of caregiving.
Years later, Caring for the Caregiver, for which Schief serves as cochairman, began as a ministry at her church and now runs caregiving caring circles, as well as keeping a comprehensive database of support systems available to caregivers.
Caring for loved ones is a growing issue. According to The National Alliance For Caregiving and AARP, approximately 34.2 million people have provided unpaid care to an adult 50 years or older in the year 2015, the last year for which statistics are available. Further, the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau reports that one in every 26 families in the U.S. is raising a child with a disability.
Care for the Caregiver
Caregiving offers an opportunity to express love and compassion, but there are concomitant negative aspects. Most feel isolated and forget what life was like before being a caregiver, says Tara Anglim, director of Patient & Family Center Care at Peconic Bay Medical Center, a hospital-based caregiver support center on Long Island. Support group members, adds Anglim, validate each other’s emotional experience of caregiving through laughter, united feelings of frustration and sadness.
At Caring for the Caregiver, caring circles are non-disease specific. “We found that there were many people who were facing multiple issues,” says Schief. The caregivers themselves run the caring circles, explains Schief, “because if you have never been a caregiver you don’t understand what these people are going through.”
Caring for Children & Families
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center offers an Intensive Support Program (ISP) of therapy and a nurturing alternative for children ages 5 to 21 and their families from all Nassau county school districts.
Part of the work of ISP, says Andrew Malekoff, executive director of the Guidance Center, involves providing psychoeducation for the child and parents to develop the coping skills necessary to improve their overall functioning at school, in the community and at home.
Parent to Parent, based in Hauppauge, provides information, guidance and support to families of children with developmental disabilities. Parent to parent matching, a popular program, connects parents in need of advice to other parents who’ve been through similar experiences.
Alzheimer’s Disease
In New York State, there are now one million Alzheimer’s and dementia unpaid caregivers. These figures are poised to rise as the number of people diagnosed with the disease is expected to triple by 2050.
In many cases, people care for loved ones at home for as long as they can and need their own support services, says Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
“Respite can be an invaluable resource to help family caregivers maintain their own sense of well-being,” he says, adding that respite can take the form of adult day programs and in-home aid.
Education is also key. Classes like Peconic Bay Medical Center’s “Dementia: Effective Communication and Behavioral Strategies” and “Long Term Care 101” are vital for proper care.
No matter who they care for and what conditions they’re contending with, help for the caregiver is available.
“We’re trying to make their journey easier,” says Schief.
caregiving on long island
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jul 30, 2018 | In The Media
In the immediate aftermath of the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain Gov. Cuomo issued a press release about new funding to address the rising rate of suicide.
He stated: “Two high-profile suicides this week put mental illness front and center, but while those names were the ones in the press, every day there are thousands of New Yorkers who struggle with suicidal thoughts, and we must do everything we can to support them. Depression does not discriminate. It affects every part of society and people from all walks of life.”
I applaud the Governor for bringing this matter to light. He stated, “Depression does not discriminate.” Nevertheless, health insurers that do not comply with federal parity law, denying timely access to care, do discriminate. When New York State government does not enforce this law, they aid and abet discrimination against the “thousands of New Yorkers,” who the Governor referred to as those “who struggle with suicidal thoughts”.
The difficulty people have accessing mental health and addiction care is not simply a matter of stigma. It is a matter of discrimination. This is a civil rights issue that an announcement of new funding alone will not solve.
On December 15, 2017, North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center held a press conference at its headquarters in Roslyn Heights and issued the results of a research study – Project Access that we conducted in collaboration with LIU Post Department of Social Work.
In this year-long study, hundreds of Long Islanders were surveyed about their experiences attempting to obtain help for mental health and addiction problems.
Of the 650 Long Islanders who took part in the survey, almost half said that it was more difficult finding help for mental health or substance abuse problems than finding help for physical illnesses, nearly 40 percent said that their insurance company did not have an adequate number of providers and two-thirds said that their insurance company was not helpful to them in finding a suitable provider for themselves or a loved one.
NY State Senator Todd Kaminsky, who attended the December 15th press conference, stated that the findings were “Damning.”
In a bipartisan effort, Kaminsky and Senator Elaine Phillips wrote to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) on January 9, 2018 citing the Project Access study and requesting “a thorough investigation to determine why insurance companies are not being held accountable for network adequacy.” Network adequacy is the part of the federal parity law that states that health insurers who cover mental health and addiction care must have an adequate number of providers in their network. Many more people wrote directly to Gov. Cuomo, requesting the same.
Almost five months later Scott Fischer, Executive Deputy Superintendent for Insurance, a division of DFS, responded in writing to the Senators. Fischer wrote: “DFS’s review of the various networks has confirmed that each of the insurance companies in Long Island exceeds the standards for mental health and substance use providers, for the purpose of the commercial products sold outside of NYSOH.”
Translation: There is no problem. There is nothing more to do. This does not square with the results of Project Access.
Health insurers and government ignoring federal parity law is discrimination. When it comes to suicide prevention: access delayed, is access denied.
Discrimination deserves a place alongside stigma when the conversation turns to access to care.
It’s a matter of civil rights.
Long after the tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain fade from the front pages, the lack of compliance and enforcement of federal parity law will persist and the thousands of people that the Governor spoke of in hispress release will still be unable to access care.
Andrew Malekoff
![Ladies Night Out 2018 at Neiman Marcus Garden City]()
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jul 26, 2018 | Press Releases
oslyn Heights, NY, July 23, 2018 – On July 18, 2018, the Welcoming Club of Garden City presented North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center with a check for $30,000. The donation was the result of more than a dozen events the club held during the 2017-2018 season, all of which benefitted the Guidance Center. Just a sampling: a Halloween fair, Santa Christmas brunch, several movie nights and a fashion show.
One of their flagship fundraising events was held on May 15 as the Welcoming Club of Garden City hosted their Spring Soirée at the Garden City Hotel. The event featured fabulous boutique shopping, getting-to-know-you games, a Garden City trivia contest, great raffle prizes and a delicious buffet.
“It was a fun and fabulous night that allowed the ladies of the Welcoming Club of Garden City to come together with old friends and mix and mingle to meet new ones in a chic and festive atmosphere,” says Meg Dockery-Cremins, President of the Welcoming Club. “The Spring Soirée was the culmination of a year’s worth of family, couples and ladies events to benefit North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center. The wonderful vendors and community sponsors provided fabulous prizes which enabled us to make a generous donation to the Guidance Center, which we view as a critically important organization in the community.”
“We are so grateful to the members of the Welcoming Club of Garden City for making us the beneficiary of their events for this season,” says Lauren McGowan, Director of Development for the Guidance Center who, as a Garden City resident, also chaired the Philanthropic Committee for the Welcoming Club. “The funds that they raised will go directly to our core mission of helping Long Island children and their families who are in need of mental health or substance use care. We could not do our work without generous donations from community-minded organizations like the Welcoming Club.”
Meg Dockery-Cremins (center) presents a $30,000 check to Guidance Center Executive Director Andrew Malekoff and Director of Development Lauren McGowan.
