Assistant Principal Easton Hazell; Kathleen Wisnewski, National Grid customer and mommunity manager; Lauren McGowan, director of development at the guidance center; Juan Santiago, National Grid customer and community manager; Dena Papadopoulos, mental health counselor at the guidance center; and Suzanne Martin, youth employment specialist at the guidance center. (Photo courtesy of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center)
On Feb. 12, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center and National Grid launched their new partnership with a Career Day talk at the Center for Community Adjustment (CCA), part of Nassau B.O.C.E.S. in Wantagh.
The speaker was Juan Santiago, National Grid Customer and Community Manager, who quickly won over the students with his tale about his life and career journey, from his beginnings as a kid in Brooklyn who shared three pairs of jeans and a bed with his brother and was admittedly not all that interested in school. But he always dreamed big and went for what he called “stretch goals,” and it shows: Santiago’s career trajectory took him from a grocery store bagger to a successful Navy career to a National Grid meter reader and ultimately his current high-level role with National Grid, all while getting his degree online.
He told the students that there are many paths to success, and if they put their hearts and minds to it, they could reach the highest levels.
“Just because someone doesn’t take a traditional route doesn’t mean they are any less motivated,” said Santiago.
When he asked the students what they liked to do, many shared their interests, and he encouraged them to take those passions, make far-reaching goals, and then take the steps needed so that one day, they’d have terrific careers that they’d love.
For example, one student shared that he was good at fixing things, and Santiago told him that his skill could take him to new heights: “Think big. One day you can design and help build a bridge, or maybe you will go to Japan someday and help build the tallest skyscraper. If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Kathleen Wisnewski, National Grid customer and community manager, said that Santiago’s enthusiasm “pulled the kids in and got them engaged from the very beginning.” The kids were “all smiles” by the end of the talk, she added, and many were eager to pull Santiago aside to ask questions and share their own stories.
“While we encourage the exploration and discussion of various tracks to success within the Guidance Center and Nassau B.O.C.E.S., to hear and connect with someone who has navigated the ‘non-traditional’ route to success often leaves more of a lasting impact with our population of students,” said Dena Papadopoulos, mental health counselor at the Center for Community Adjustment (CCA), Nassau B.O.C.E.S, which is one of three B.O.C.E.S schools at which the Guidance Center runs the Intensive Support Program, or ISP. At each school, students who come from all 56 Nassau districts receive intensive mental health services on site.
Suzanne Martin, youth employment counselor at ISP, added, “All the students responded well and enjoyed hearing Juan’s path to success. They found it encouraging and relatable.” She added, “We’re very grateful to Juan and the National Grid team for bringing us this very special program.”
The event was the first of several that the Guidance Center has planned in partnership with National Grid.
“We work with organizations all over Long Island and the city to promote STEM [science, technology, engineering and math],” explained Wisnewski. “We are excited about our new partnership with the Guidance Center, and we look forward to our future events.”
Although my daily routine does not include reading Australian news, a social media headline from the Jan. 26, Sidney Morning Herald caught my eye: “Kids are Dying: Calls for Headspace to Publish Waiting Lists.”
Headspace is the name for 110 centers located across Australia that employ mental health and other health professionals to address the health and emotional well-being of young people from ages 12 to 25.
Visits to Headspace, which is funded by the Australian government, are advertised as free of charge. When there is a crisis, they assess risk and formulate a plan in collaboration with the young person seeking help.
Sounds great! So, why the ominous headline? Too many teens in crisis are on Headspace’s waiting lists, which run up to three months. Many have given up hope. Tragically, some are becoming statistics in Australia’s climbing suicide rate.
“Every time a young person in crisis was turned away,” says Headspace Chief Executive Jason Trethowan, it puts them another step closer to “pushing them over the edge.”
Jumping from Australia to the United Kingdom, on Oct. 8, 2018, The Guardian reported that the Royal College of Psychiatrists surveyed 500 diagnosed mental health patients and discovered that some had waited up to 13 years to get the care they needed.
One 20-year-old woman with a history of childhood trauma responded to the survey by stating it took her eight years, until the age of 15, to get treatment. “I was suicidal, but no one would help me. I kept asking for help, and kept being pushed away. Either I wasn’t ill enough to meet the threshold for services, or the waiting list was simply too long,” she noted.
In the U.S., it is too-often the same demoralizing story about disenfranchised youth on waiting lists who end up in hospital emergency rooms that lack adequate psychiatric personnel. For a child survivor of trauma, an ill-equipped ER waiting room often becomes a trigger as opposed to a respite.
Increasingly, economic realities have pushed mental health clinics in the New York metropolitan area to fill the ranks of their staff with fee-for-service workers who carry overflowing caseloads of Medicaid patients. Those patients are seen back to back at 30-minute intervals, factory-style.
At North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, 20 percent of all admissions come to us as crisis situations, including kids who talk and act as if they don’t want to live. Or, they have endured such trauma in their short lives that they have ceased to function well at home and school. We guarantee to see such emergency cases within 24 to 48 hours — and we don’t kick them out the door after 30 minutes.
Steps are taken to evaluate and reduce the level of risk right from the start to prevent traumatic ER trips. It takes a mission-driven, salaried workforce to get this done properly.
We are pleased that referral sources such as schools and pediatricians understand that we are readily available to all families regardless of income and that they will be evaluated and assigned care rapidly. This is no easy task — certainly not one that can happen in conveyor-belt-style every half hour on the half hour.
Although time is of the essence in the case of an emergency, triage is a thoughtful process that cannot be rushed. Distinctions are made. For example, there is a difference between a high-level emergency involving a child with suicidal thoughts and few if any social supports; and an urgent situation with a child that is verbalizing suicidal feelings, but who is participating in activities, speaking with parents, attending school and clearly has no intent or plan to take his or her life.
In both situations, a careful assessment is needed to understand the level of risk in order to counsel the family accordingly. It is life-and-death work. There are no shortcuts. A dedicated team of salaried professional staff is essential. Yet such places are in short supply.
The Headspace headline — “Kids are Dying” — falls on deaf ears when it comes to mental health care. Someone advised me that if you want to shake things up, you need to examine why you are awake and how you just relate to those who are asleep. One mom carried the ashes of her deceased teenage son to a legislative hearing to awaken the slumbering legislators.
It shouldn’t take ashes to ask for help.
Andrew Malekoff is the executive director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families. To find out more, call 516-626-1971 or visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
Although my daily routine does not include reading Australian news, a social media headline from the Jan. 26, Sidney Morning Herald caught my eye: “Kids are Dying: Calls for Headspace to Publish Waiting Lists.”
Headspace is the name for 110 centers located across Australia that employ mental health and other health professionals to address the health and emotional well-being of young people from ages 12 to 25.
Visits to Headspace, which is funded by the Australian government, are advertised as free of charge. When there is a crisis, they assess risk and formulate a plan in collaboration with the young person seeking help.
Sounds great! So, why the ominous headline? Too many teens in crisis are on Headspace’s waiting lists, which run up to three months. Many have given up hope. Tragically, some are becoming statistics in Australia’s climbing suicide rate.
“Every time a young person in crisis was turned away,” says Headspace Chief Executive Jason Trethowan, it puts them another step closer to “pushing them over the edge.”
Jumping from Australia to the United Kingdom, on Oct. 8, 2018, The Guardian reported that the Royal College of Psychiatrists surveyed 500 diagnosed mental health patients and discovered that some had waited up to 13 years to get the care they needed.
One 20-year-old woman with a history of childhood trauma responded to the survey by stating it took her eight years, until the age of 15, to get treatment. “I was suicidal, but no one would help me. I kept asking for help, and kept being pushed away. Either I wasn’t ill enough to meet the threshold for services, or the waiting list was simply too long,” she noted.
In the U.S., it is too-often the same demoralizing story about disenfranchised youth on waiting lists who end up in hospital emergency rooms that lack adequate psychiatric personnel. For a child survivor of trauma, an ill-equipped ER waiting room often becomes a trigger as opposed to a respite.
Increasingly, economic realities have pushed mental health clinics in the New York metropolitan area to fill the ranks of their staff with fee-for-service workers who carry overflowing caseloads of Medicaid patients. Those patients are seen back to back at 30-minute intervals, factory-style.
At North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, 20 percent of all admissions come to us as crisis situations, including kids who talk and act as if they don’t want to live. Or, they have endured such trauma in their short lives that they have ceased to function well at home and school. We guarantee to see such emergency cases within 24 to 48 hours — and we don’t kick them out the door after 30 minutes.
Steps are taken to evaluate and reduce the level of risk right from the start to prevent traumatic ER trips. It takes a mission-driven, salaried workforce to get this done properly.
We are pleased that referral sources such as schools and pediatricians understand that we are readily available to all families regardless of income and that they will be evaluated and assigned care rapidly. This is no easy task — certainly not one that can happen in conveyor-belt-style every half hour on the half hour.
Although time is of the essence in the case of an emergency, triage is a thoughtful process that cannot be rushed. Distinctions are made. For example, there is a difference between a high-level emergency involving a child with suicidal thoughts and few if any social supports; and an urgent situation with a child that is verbalizing suicidal feelings, but who is participating in activities, speaking with parents, attending school and clearly has no intent or plan to take his or her life.
In both situations, a careful assessment is needed to understand the level of risk in order to counsel the family accordingly. It is life-and-death work. There are no shortcuts. A dedicated team of salaried professional staff is essential. Yet such places are in short supply.
The Headspace headline — “Kids are Dying” — falls on deaf ears when it comes to mental health care. Someone advised me that if you want to shake things up, you need to examine why you are awake and how you just relate to those who are asleep. One mom carried the ashes of her deceased teenage son to a legislative hearing to awaken the slumbering legislators.
It shouldn’t take ashes to ask for help.
Andrew Malekoff is the executive director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families. To find out more, call 516-626-1971 or visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
I’ve been working in the field of children’s mental health for more than 45 years, most of them with the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the leading children’s mental health agency on Long Island, where we turn no one away for inability to pay.
During the early months of each year, we conduct an informal study in an attempt to understand who is calling us for help and what needs they’re calling us about. In recent years, the trend has been that most of the children and teens we see are experiencing anxiety and depression. According to studies, more than 1 in 20 American children and teens have anxiety or depression.
It’s normal in stressful situations to experience anxiety, but some young people have anxiety that interferes with everyday functioning at home or in school. As for depression, while everyone can have a bad day or two that eventually passes, with serious depression there is a more intense and prolonged feeling of hopelessness and inability to function in the important areas of one’s life, at school, at home or with peers.
Some of the signs of clinical depression are feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, anger or frustration. You no longer care about activities that you typically enjoy; you may not be able to fall asleep, or you sleep longer than usual; you’re often tired; you experience feelings of worthlessness and guilt; and you can’t concentrate or easily make decisions.
Bruce Springsteen, who has opened up about his depression and suicidal thoughts, described it this way in an interview with Esquire: “I once got into some sort of box where I couldn’t figure my way out and where the feelings were so overwhelmingly uncomfortable.”
Depression in teens is widespread: Research indicates that one of every four adolescents will have an episode of major depression during high school, with the average age of onset 14. Sadly, only 30 percent of depressed teens receive treatment, despite the fact that suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. In fact, according to suicide.org, teen suicides have risen dramatically in recent years.
Why are 70 percent of depressed teens not receiving professional mental health care? One reason is that stigma and shame have the effect of marginalizing and isolating those living with depression. The other reason is that families that seek care for depressed loved ones have trouble accessing professional help, with fewer and fewer providers accepting health insurance.
Despite a federal law that requires health insurers to maintain full rosters of providers — the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 — they often fall short. In addition, the government has failed to adequately enforce the law.
In a 2018 research study by the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center called Project Access, of the 650 people surveyed, almost half said it was more difficult to find help for mental health or substance use problems than for other illnesses, especially when they were in crisis. Almost 40 percent said their insurance company didn’t have an adequate number of providers, and two-thirds said their insurance company wasn’t helpful when it came to finding care.
There is good news: Anxiety and depression can be treated. Individual and group therapy and, when needed, medication can help. But first you have to be able to find help.
Beyond professional help, how we relate to our loved ones, friends and neighbors living with depression can make a real difference. When we stigmatize someone living with depression, we act as if they have a character flaw or lack of willpower and are undeserving of support. It’s only when we begin to view illnesses above the neck the same as illnesses below it, like cancer or diabetes, that we can reach out and connect rather than further marginalizing and isolating. Sometimes a simple, “How’re you doing? I see you’ve been feeling down. Just know that I’m here for you” can make all the difference.
You can’t instantaneously cure depression, but genuine support and unconditional love can make all the difference in the world for someone living with a mental illness.
Lady Gaga, another artist who has opened up about mental illness, called suicidal thoughts a “spell.” She explained, “We have to have empathy. Be kind, and help each other break the spell and live and thrive.”
Andrew Malekoff is the executive director of the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental-health services to children from birth through age 24 and their families. To find out more, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
It’s been just a few weeks since models hit the runway for New York Fashion Week. And while most of us cannot begin to afford any of the haute couture styles that designers try to convince us will somehow make our lives better, one thing is clear: Super-thin is still in.
And the obsession with being skinny starts early.
One study showed that by age 6, girls begin to express concerns about their weight; the study also found that 60% of elementary school girls ages 6-12 are concerned about becoming too fat, and that this worry tends to remain with them all their lives.
The messages sent through the media and other cultural avenues—that it’s cool to be very thin—can have devastating consequences, leading to potentially life-threatening conditions such as cardiac abnormalities and other medical problems.
But the desire to be thin is just a part of the equation: People with eating disorders typically have low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and other overwhelming emotions that cause their self-destructive behaviors with food. While the behaviors may alleviate stress in the short term, the long-term consequences can be deadly.
“People who develop eating disorders needs to be assessed and treated,” says Elissa Smilowitz, LCSW and Coordinator of Triage and Emergency Services at North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center. “As with alcohol, substance abuse and similar addictions, no one chooses to have this problem.”
In addition, you can’t diagnose an eating disorder simply by looking at someone. People with these conditions are sometimes thin, sometimes heavy and sometimes “average” in weight.
While eating disorders are more common among females, they don’t discriminate: Men can and do develop these conditions, and people of all ethnicities, sizes, ages and backgrounds are impacted.
95% of those with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
Among high-school students, 44% of females and 15% of males attempted to lose weight.
35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders.
Over one half of teenage girls and nearly one third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors (for example, skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes and purging).
How can you determine if your child or teen is suffering from an eating disorder such as anorexia, bulimia or binge eating?
“They may be very critical of their bodies and base their self-esteem on their size,” says Smilowitz. “They will typically become very defensive if you talk about their eating habits.”
Other signs include food restrictions; hiding food; eating in secret; distorted body image; social isolation; depression; and physical manifestations such as stomach cramps, missed periods, sleep problems, thinning of hair and dizziness, among others.
The first thing to do is to rule out any medical issues; after this is ruled out, therapy may be recommended to assess whether the child is experiencing any anxiety or depression which can exacerbate eating problems.
For more information, click here to find a parent toolkit from the National Eating Disorders Association.
