Includes Book Signing by author of Creative Mind: A Diary of Teenage Mental Illness
Roslyn Heights, NY, April 17, 2018 — On Friday April 13th, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center hosted a program featuring Long Island author Nicole Nagy.
Nagy’s book, Creative Mind: A Diary of Teenage Mental Illness, is a moving first-person account of her mental health challenges and also of the roadblocks she faced when trying to access timely and affordable treatment.
Nagy, a graduate social work student at Stony Brook, has also become a Project Access advocate, fighting alongside the Guidance Center for timely, affordable access to mental health and addictions care. The April 13 program featured Nagy’s discussion of her journey to healing and also addressed the battle to overcome stigma.
Nicole Nagy signs her book for Guidance Center Associate Executive Director Regina Barros-Rivera.
“In her book, Nicole writes with an authentic, courageous voice as she talks about her experiences with depression and anxiety,” said Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of the Guidance Center.“With this book, Nicole has helped lift the fear of stigma by so honestly sharing her story. In addition, her advocacy for people struggling with mental health issues is very powerful. The battle for access to care is a matter of civil rights for millions of people.”
Even with excellent health insurance, Nagy said that getting access to treatment was very difficult. “It took weeks to get an appointment after I was hospitalized for a suicide attempt,” she said. When she was finally able to get the help she needed, she “learned to own and manage my illness and love myself.” Her goal is to share her story with everyone she can and give them hope.
The April 13th event included insights from an outstanding panel: Nancy Manigat, Chief Program Officer of CN Guidance & Counseling Services; author and psychotherapist Sean Grover; Kerry Lynn Eller, a social worker at North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center who has experienced the difficulty of accessing mental health care in her own family; and the Reverend Gideon L. K. Pollach, rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
“Nicole’s story shows that having mental illness and being successful are not mutually exclusive,” said Eller. Grover talked about the need for adults to remember what it was like being a teenager and to “tap into our humanity,” while Pollach spoke of the need for communities of faith to fight for parity for mental health and addictions treatment.
Left to Right: Andrew Malekoff, Sean Grover, Nicole Nagy, Kerry Lynn Eller, Nancy Manigat, and Reverend Gideon L.K. Pollach.
Manigat, Chief Program Officer of CN Guidance & Counseling Services, applauded Nagy for being an advocate, and also spoke about the importance of the Project Access study, which surveyed 650 Long Islanders about their experience trying to find mental health care. “We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center on this very important study with the goal of improving access to lifesaving services for individuals living with a mental health and/or substance use disorder,” said Manigat. “Through our participation with Project Access, we were able to provide significant data which helped identify obstacles to care. At CN Guidance and Counseling Services, we believe in every individual’s ability to recover – and access to care is a necessary component of treatment. We are enthusiastic about the potential for change to come through the results of this survey.”
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 more than 60 years, 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.
From left, James Kinney, Fair Media Council board chairman; Andrew Malekoff, executive director of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center; and Jaci Clement, CEO and executive director of Fair Media Council. (Photo courtesy of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center)
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center Executive Director Andrew Malekoff was honored today at the Fair Media Council’s Folio Awards as Best Columnist. His winning column was “Looking for a Path Back to Civility,” which ran in Newsday’s Opinion section on Sept. 17, 2017.
Here is an excerpt from the column:
Most people I talk to agree that civility is on the decline. Everyone seems to have his or her own horror stories, whether it is inconsiderate neighbors or co-workers, aggressive driving or just plain rudeness.
Highways have become the Wild West. Hardly anyone comes to a complete stop for a stop sign. The yellow traffic signal has evolved from its original meaning, slow down, to speed up. And, of course, there are tailgating, middle-finger salutes and rampant road rage.
Today, there is so much talk about putting an end to bullying in schools. Yet, we live in a world of adults who don’t think twice about trampling personal boundaries through rude, intimidating and obnoxious behavior.
If we cannot reverse the trend, we can at least slow down and teach our children, after we remind ourselves, the importance of putting a pause between impulse and action. Perhaps it is somewhere inside of that sacred space that we can find our way back to a civil society.
“I’m honored to receive this prestigious journalism award, especially for this piece that I’ve come to realize has such universal appeal,” said Malekoff.
“It’s more important than ever for responsible, credible voices to take a leading role in the public conversation to ensure we have an informed public and a smarter democracy,” said Jaci Clement, CEO and executive director of Fair Media Council. “Winning a Fair Media Council Folio Award illustrates North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s commitment to bettering the community by raising awareness, and cements its role as a Long Island leader.”
Debbie Greco Cohen, Lauren Edwards, Vivian Moy, Bridgette Hirsch, Mariann Dalimonte and Robin McDermott.
Port Washington resident Vivian Moy and Sands Point resident Nancy Lane have been named to the 2018 May W. Newburger Women’s Roll of Honor and were recognized at the annual breakfast at the Clubhouse at Harbor Links in Port Washington on March 28. Moy and Lane were among 12 women honored for their contribution to the community and significant achievements through public or private efforts.
“North Hempstead has a long, rich history of strong, compassionate women who dedicate themselves to the enrichment of our great town,” said Town of North Hempstead Clerk Wayne Wink at the breakfast. “It is my distinct privilege to organize this event each year to honor women throughout the Town of North Hempstead that have generously dedicated their time to make our town a better place. This year, we are proud to honor 12 deserving women for their exemplary service to the community. They join the ranks of many whom, through their service, have contributed positively to the lives of others.”
Back row: Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Clerk Wayne Wink and Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio. Front row: Port Washington honorees Vivian Moy and Nancy Lane.
The 25th annual breakfast featured a color guard made up of Manhasset VFW Post 5063 and American Legion Post 304, the singing of the national anthem by Lisa Berman and readings from Shirley Romaine. All 12 honorees were recognized with a presentation of certificates by Wink and Supervisor Judi Bosworth.
“Wayne Wink called me to let me know that five people submitted nominations for me,” said Moy. “I was surprised initially, then humbled, then horrified in that order. I really don’t enjoy the limelight. It’s not what motivates me to give back to my community. This award was an unintended consequence of my efforts to highlight the work of all the nonprofit organizations I volunteer for. I believe people admire me because of my heart for community service motivated by passion for helping others.”
Moy volunteers with several nonprofit organizations including the Port Washington Crisis Relief Team (PWCRT), which supports residents during times of crisis and disaster, the Ed. Foundation, the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce, the Port Washington Community Chest and the Port Washington Public Library. She also volunteers for Island Harvest, the United Service Organization and the American Red Cross.
“I have run Red Cross Blood Drives in Port Washington and organized a Red Cross and PWCRT event where teams of volunteers from both organizations, plus community members installed smoke alarms in any home that needed one,” said Moy.
Moy has also run several shelters for residents during disasters including Superstorm Sandy.
“Within the Port community this was my greatest accomplishment,” said Moy regarding her help with Superstorm Sandy. “It was as exhausting as it was rewarding. I remember the town commenting to us afterwards that they were fielding emergency calls from every town except Port Washington because residents had somewhere to go to find food, information, camaraderie and electricity to charge their cellphones.”
Moy was previously the recipient of awards including the 2016 Community Service Award by the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce, the 2016 Red Cross Emerging Leader Award and a Hometown Hero Award from the Town of North Hempstead after Superstorm Sandy.
Sands Point resident Lane had similar sentiments about being named to the women’s roll of honor.
“It is an honor,” said Lane. “There are a lot of wonderful people in North Hempstead. It’s wonderful to be listed among those women who make a difference in our community.”
Lane moved to Port Washington Estates in 1980, then moved to Flower Hill in Manhasset in 1983 and recently moved to the Village of Sands Point. Lane was introduced to the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center by a friend who was then the board president. Lane joined the committee to give back to her community.
Founded in 1953 as a result of a grassroots parents movement, North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center is a specialty outpatient children’s mental health agency located on Long Island with licenses from the New York State Office of Mental Health and New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. The Guidance Center’s staff of psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, addiction counselors and professional family advocates work with children ages birth through 24 and their families, leading the way in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, parent education and advocacy.
“I think raising awareness of mental health needs and treatment is no longer the stigma it used to be,” said Lane. “We’re trying to enlighten people. We advocate for services to be provided.”
Lane has served on the board of the Guidance Center since 1986 and, having served as its board president in the late 1980s, she is currently serving as the board president once again. As a member of the board and its president, Lane assists in raising funds for the Guidance Center to provide more services to the community.
“Helping to advocate and bringing more awareness about what can be done and the change that can happen in a family if services are provided to that family can make all the difference,” said Lane. “I live in this community and it’s important for me to give back. I want to be able to feel that the community is better for the work I do.”
Also honored at the event were honorees Jo Marino and Robin Garrison Bolling of Westbury, Paula Groothuis and Mona Ng of Albertson, Helene Harris and Lillian Barnola of Mineola, Stella Biniaris of Manhasset, Barbara Silverman of Roslyn, Lida Edalati of Great Neck and Rose Lowe of New Hyde Park.
What did you think of this article? Share your thoughts with me by email at cclaus@antonmediagroup.com.
Roslyn Heights, NY, March 29, 2018— North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center Executive Director Andrew Malekoff was honored today at the Fair Media Council’s Folio Awards as Best Columnist. His winning column was “Looking for a Path Back to Civility,” which ran in Newsday’s Opinion section on September 17, 2017.
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center Board Members Jo-Ellen Hazan and Rita Castagna; Frank Castagna of Castagna Realty Co.; and Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center
Here is an excerpt from the column:
Most people I talk to agree that civility is on the decline. Everyone seems to have his or her own horror stories, whether it is inconsiderate neighbors or co-workers, aggressive driving or just plain rudeness.
Highways have become the Wild West. Hardly anyone comes to a complete stop for a stop sign. The yellow traffic signal has evolved from its original meaning, slow down, to speed up. And, of course, there are tailgating, middle-finger salutes and rampant road rage.
Today, there is so much talk about putting an end to bullying in schools. Yet, we live in a world of adults who don’t think twice about trampling personal boundaries through rude, intimidating and obnoxious behavior.
If we cannot reverse the trend, we can at least slow down and teach our children, after we remind ourselves, the importance of putting a pause between impulse and action. Perhaps it is somewhere inside of that sacred space that we can find our way back to a civil society.
“I’m honored to receive this prestigious journalism award, especially for this piece that I’ve come to realize has such universal appeal,” says Malekoff.
“It’s more important than ever for responsible, credible voices to take a leading role in the public conversation to ensure we have an informed public and a smarter democracy,” says Jaci Clement, CEO and Executive Director of Fair Media Council. “Winning a Fair Media Council Folio Award illustrates North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s commitment to bettering the community by raising awareness, and cements its role as a Long Island leader.”
James Kinney, Partner at Mazars USA and Chair of the Board of Directors of Fair Media Council; Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center; and Jaci Clement, CEO and Executive Director of Fair Media Council.
Times Union, March 22, 2018, Letter from Andrew Malekoff
Although our children’s safety is paramount (“School safety debate evokes Albany deja vu,” March 7), in the aftermath of yet another mass shooting, we must understand that it is incredibly rare for people living with mentally illness to be violent. In fact, they are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of it.
Nevertheless, we do need to have a discussion about mental illness at a time like this. That discussion, however, needs to be about how the health insurance industry and the elected officials who depend on their donations are failing miserably at having adequate networks of providers on their lists who take insurance.
Why is this? Health insurers pay substandard rates of reimbursement; consequently, fewer and fewer providers will accept insurance.
Health insurers are discriminating against people living with mental illness and addiction. This is a violation of civil rights and federal parity law, which government regulators then fail to enforce, as is their statutory responsibility.
In New York, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) is charged with enforcement. I urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to authorize, and DFS Commissioner Mary Vullo to implement a full-scale investigation into network adequacy during this, the 10-year anniversary of the bipartisan Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Andrew Malekoff
Long Beach
Executive director and CEO of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights
Taking Care of Business Talk Radio, March 27, 2018, featuring Guidance Center’s Vanessa McMullen, LCSW and supervisor at The Marks Family Right From the Start 0-3+Center
Newsday, Opinion, March 28, 2018
Getting Sandy Koufax’s Autograph Was Worth the Risk
By Andrew Malekoff
A painting of Sandy Koufax by Ron Stark from a photo of Koufax taken before the start the 1963 World Series, where he struck out 15 Yankees. Photo Credit: /
I am not the rabid baseball fan that I once was, but the start of a new season each year brings me back to 1963, when I was just 12. I was a Dodgers fan and much too young to have appreciated the devastating impact of the team’s 1958 move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for so many fans.
My summertime ritual was to get up, ride my bike to buy a newspaper at the nearby candy store in my hometown of Maplewood, New Jersey. I headed right for the sports section and the box scores. If Sandy Koufax pitched the night before, my heart pounded in anticipation of the details.
Sometimes I clipped the articles for a scrapbook, spending hours with scissors, paper and Elmer’s glue.
One fall day in 1963, my father told me he had four tickets to a World Series game. The Yankees were playing the Dodgers. I did not get to see Sandy pitch, but I wasn’t disappointed. The Dodgers won 4-1, giving them a 2-0 Series advantage. Nevertheless, the excitement of being at the game and seeing my team triumphant was soon eclipsed.
As my mother, father, younger brother and I exited the ballpark in South Bronx, we passed an open garage that led back into Yankee Stadium. I peered in and spotted a bus. I stopped as my family walked on. As the metal garage door started its slow descent, I knew that this was the moment of truth.
When the garage door was about three feet from the concrete, I hit the ground, World Series program and pen in hand, and rolled inside along with a few other kids.
As a stadium door opened, the first one through was Don Drysdale, who would go on to pitch a shutout in game three. Next was Johnny Podres, who pitched that day, followed by the exciting Maury Wills, who broke all the base-stealing records in the early 1960s.
They signed the back of my program over a full-page ad for Sinclair Dino Supreme gasoline. The ad said, “Try a tankful today. Your satisfaction guaranteed — or your money back.”
I could feel my heart beat harder with each autograph. But where was Sandy?
I learned later that my parents had frantically searched for me, and that someone told them some kids had slipped under the garage door.
Finally, Sandy came through, but he boarded the bus before I could get to him. I was crestfallen.
Faced with another decision, I overcame my inhibition and climbed up the bus stairs. I asked a player sitting in front to pass my program back to Sandy. It came back with his signature. I was soon escorted out of the garage, to my parents’ great relief. I was floating on air. The glow lasted for days.
With each new season, I wonder back what that day and those precious moments and split-second decisions would have felt like if I hadn’t been in it for love, but for the money that a celebrity’s signature might bring. Later, my mom framed the front and back covers together. It hung in my bedroom for decades, well after I moved out. I took it with me to Long Beach after I got married in 1980. It’s out of the frame and I keep it in a night table drawer.
I am so grateful for that day, and for not knowing that an autograph could be worth anything more than a wonderful moment to be preserved for a lifetime.
Activists in Manhattan (Photo provided by Andrew Malekoff)
On March 24 I was proud to stand with the youth leaders of Stoneman Douglas High School and other youth activists across the U.S. As one of them said on a news broadcast, “Every voice matters.”
They demonstrated that by extending their reach to youth survivors beyond Parkland and broadened the frame to include gun violence in all domains.
Think for just a moment about the value-laden authenticity of these social justice youth warriors as compared to what masquerades as leadership in Washington D.C.
Think about Congress’s reliance on the likes of the NRA, Big Pharma and others for campaign financing and, even closer to home, the unending and sordid political corruption trials in municipalities across Long Island.
We have sunk so low in terms of greed, thirst for power and social dysfunction, that it will take our babies to save themselves.
And, some babies they are!
How long before their enemies try to delegitimize their efforts, even beyond characterizing them as inauthentic “crisis actors,” which only serves to reinforce their resolve?
How long before the tabloids attack them and attempt to rip them apart by manufacturing sordid headlines to discredit them?
How long before the NRA public relations corps attempts to marginalize them as ego-tripping puppets of the left and Hollywood elite, rather than the free-thinkers, born of trauma that they are?
How long? Not long. It’s already happening.
Their detractors cannot differentiate between the teens being resourceful in their partnering with adults and being dependent on them.
They don’t need our leadership. They’ve already eclipsed it. But, they will need soldiers of every generation to support them.
And, let us not forget that they have suffered post-traumatic injury and are grieving.
They’ve vowed not to let this go. We cannot lead or co-opt their revolution.
What we can do is follow and support or get out of the way.
Andrew Malekoff
Executive director of the nonprofit children’s mental health agency North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights www.northshorechildguidance.org
Nancy Lane among the dynamic women chosen for the annual women’s roll of honor
Roslyn Heights, NY, March 28, 2018— In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Town of North Hempstead named North Shore Guidance Child & Family Guidance Center’s Board President Nancy Lane to its 25th Annual May W. Newburger Women’s Roll of Honor.
Nancy Lane, President of the Guidance Center’s Board of Directors, in front of the May W. Newburger Honor Roll
“Nancy Lane has been an invaluable asset to North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center for more than 30 years,” says Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director. “She first became involved in one of our parent initiatives in 1985, and was drawn to the Guidance Center’s mission of providing mental health care and substance abuse treatment for all in need in Nassau County, regardless of their ability to pay.In 1986, Nancy joined the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, and from 1988 through 1992 served as the President of the Board of Directors. Today, she once again is our Board President. Her devotion to our mission and deep knowledge of what we do and of the community we serve make her a dynamic, effective and passionate leader.”
Left to right: Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Guidance Center Board Nancy Lane, Town Clerk Wayne H. Wink Jr. and Town Councilwoman Dina M. De Giorgio
Nancy her husband Dr. Lew Lane have lived in Port Washington, Manhasset and Sands point for 37 years. They have two children: Manhasset residents Alexandra Lane and her husband Randy Cohn, who have a son, Josh; and Drew Lane and his wife Kristen Stokes, who live in Manhattan and have a daughter, Audrey. Nancy volunteered at her children’s school, Buckley Country Day School, for 13 years while her children attended the school. Before becoming a mother, Nancy volunteered at the Port Washington Library. As you can see, Nancy has been a true hero to the town of North Hempstead for nearly four decades.
Guidance Center Board Vice President Jo-Ellen Hazan (left), Board President Nancy Lane (center) and Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth (right).
Many of the Guidance Center’s previous board and committee members have received this honor over the years, including Susan Isaacs, Lilo Leeds, Joan Saltzman, Amy, Hagedorn, Sondra Pardes, Irene E. Hylton, Jane Schwartz, Heather Schwartz and current board vice president Jo-Ellen Hazan.
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 more than 60 years, 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.
Roslyn Heights, NY, March 27, 2018— Grab your friendsand get ready for a fun afternoon filled with your favorite card (or tile) games, shopping and a fabulous luncheon!
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the preeminent not-for-profit children’s mental health agency on Long Island, is pleased to announce that its Spring Luncheon 2018 will take place on Thursday, April 26, 2018 at Glen Head Country Club from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Clubhouse, which includes a beautiful ballroom, cozy living room area and spacious card room, is the perfect venue for a wonderful afternoon.
The keynote speaker is Victor M. Fornari, MD. Dr. Fornari is Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at The Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics at the Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine atHofstra/Northwell. He will be discussing the latest developments in the field of children’s mental health, providing useful information to parents with children of all ages.
The day will open with Mahjong, Canasta and Bridge.Next will be a delicious luncheon buffet and most informative and engaging presentation by Dr. Fornari. Throughout the day, guests will be able to visit unique shopping boutiques from some of Long Island’s trendiest and most charitable small business owners, including Chintz Giraffe,Dale’s Novelty Knits, Dash,Designs That Donate, Meryl Roesch Sunglasses and RFC Fine Jewelry, among others. Items for sale will include apparel, purses, jewelry, accessories and more. There will also be plenty of opportunities to participate in raffles for luxury prizes.
Registration is now open and sponsorships are available by visiting the Guidance Center’s website, www.northshorechildguidance.org or calling 516-626-1971, ext. 309.
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 more than 60 years, 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.
From Blank Slate Media, March 26, 2018: Students Seeking Sensible Gun Laws Deserve our Support
Activists in Manhattan (Photo provided by Andrew Malekoff)
On March 24 I was proud to stand with the youth leaders of Stoneman Douglas High School and other youth activists across the U.S. As one of them said on a news broadcast, “Every voice matters.”
They demonstrated that by extending their reach to youth survivors beyond Parkland and broadened the frame to include gun violence in all domains.
Think for just a moment about the value-laden authenticity of these social justice youth warriors as compared to what masquerades as leadership in Washington D.C.
Think about Congress’s reliance on the likes of the NRA, Big Pharma and others for campaign financing and, even closer to home, the unending and sordid political corruption trials in municipalities across Long Island.
We have sunk so low in terms of greed, thirst for power and social dysfunction, that it will take our babies to save themselves.
And, some babies they are!
How long before their enemies try to delegitimize their efforts, even beyond characterizing them as inauthentic “crisis actors,” which only serves to reinforce their resolve?
How long before the tabloids attack them and attempt to rip them apart by manufacturing sordid headlines to discredit them?
How long before the NRA public relations corps attempts to marginalize them as ego-tripping puppets of the left and Hollywood elite, rather than the free-thinkers, born of trauma that they are?
How long? Not long. It’s already happening.
Their detractors cannot differentiate between the teens being resourceful in their partnering with adults and being dependent on them.
They don’t need our leadership. They’ve already eclipsed it. But, they will need soldiers of every generation to support them.
And, let us not forget that they have suffered post-traumatic injury and are grieving.
They’ve vowed not to let this go. We cannot lead or co-opt their revolution.
What we can do is follow and support or get out of the way.
Andrew Malekoff
Executive director of the nonprofit children’s mental health agency North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights www.northshorechildguidance.org
It wasn’t necessary for the slaughter of innocents at Sandy Hook to validate that there is evil in the world. But what it did affirm is that if the massacre of six- and seven-year-old children is not off limits, then nothing is.
Now there is Parkland.
In the last 40 years, the United States has mourned scores of mass murders. A number of the locales where these shootings took place were schools – Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and now Parkland – that have become iconic markers of epidemic violence.
And mass shootings are not only happening in the U.S. In 1996, 16 kindergarten children and their teacher were murdered by a lone gunman in Dunblane, Scotland. Still, those are unusual occurrences in other countries, whereas we have had more than a dozen school shootings since the beginning of this year alone.
After “thoughts and prayers” are paraded around by politicians from all sides, what happens next? Many gun rights advocates, refusing to allow for the fact that our forefathers were talking about the right to bear arms such as muskets and had no conception of guns that could shoot down dozens in an instant, stand in the position that it’s not about guns but rather mental illness.
As the Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which serves children and their families facing issues such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse, I have seen the many faces of mental illness and addictions for more than 40 years. It is incredibly rare for those who are labelled as mentally ill to be violent. In fact, they are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators.
Nevertheless, we do need to have a discussion about mental illness at times like these. That discussion, however, needs to be about how insurance companies and the elected officials who count on their donations are failing miserably at having adequate numbers of providers on their lists who take insurance. Over and over again, we hear that, before they found North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which never turns anyone away for inability to pay, they made numerous calls to the mental health providers on their insurer’s list and found that they no longer take insurance or are booked for months.
We also need to talk about how violence against our youth is rampant, not just in mass shootings. The faces of violence against youths are many and the impact vast. In 2013, a statistical report by the research group Child Trends visualized a hypothetical U.S. high school class of 100 graduates. Among those graduates, it estimated:
71 have experienced physical assault
28 have been victimized sexually (including 10 reporting that they have been the victims of dating violence in the past year and 10 reporting they have been raped)
32 have experienced some form of child maltreatment
27 were in a physical fight
16 carried a weapon in the past year
39 have been bullied, physically or emotionally — 16 in the past year
29 felt “sad and hopeless” continually for at least two weeks during the past year
14 thought seriously about attempting suicide, and
6 made a suicide attempt.
If you read between the lines and the years of mass shootings in America, if only from Columbine to Parkland, there were many more horrific events in between that have all but faded from consciousness. As journalist Gary Smith suggested, “the clock is already ticking in the land of amnesia.”
How long before Parkland, too, is gone?
Malekoff is executive director of the nonprofit children’s mental health agency North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights, NY.
From Anton Media: Andrew Malekoff discusses the Struggle for Access to Mental Health Care
It’s a heartbreaking scenario that is far too common: someone makes the difficult decision to seek out professional help for a mental health or substance abuse problem for themselves or their loved one and is faced with a myriad of roadblocks. They start calling providers on their insurance plan and find that they are not taking new patients, or they no longer accept insurance and only want cash. And the cost of paying out of pocket is too much for many to afford.
Here is the reality: Health insurers are required by law to offer an adequate network of providers for their beneficiaries to choose from, and not just for physical illnesses. This requirement is known in the health insurance industry as network adequacy.
Along with the difficulty of finding a provider who will accept your insurance, the problem is often complicated by a family’s reluctance to seek help for a mental health or drug problem, as opposed to physical illnesses like cancer or diabetes. Despite progress in public education, stigma still looms large.
Once someone takes the leap of faith to ask for help, he or she is too often told, “I’m sorry, I don’t accept your insurance any longer.” When this happens there is a chance they will give up.
It is this reality that spurred North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center to launch a research initiative called Project Access. This entailed creating a survey that was completed by almost 650 people across Long Island. Here is some of what we found:
• Almost 50 percent of the participants said that it was more difficult finding help for mental health or drug problems than finding help for physical illnesses, especially when they were in crisis.
• Nearly 40 percent said that their insurance company did not have an adequate number of providers.
• 66 percent reported that their insurance company was not helpful in finding a suitable provider for themselves or a loved one.
One survey respondent wrote: “A family member within my household required therapy and we had difficulty finding a provider; when we did, scheduling was a nightmare because so many patients were trying to see him. I believe it was because he was one of the few willing to accept multiple insurance policies.” This was a familiar refrain.
Health insurers reimburse mental health and addictions care providers at such low rates that they flee health insurers in droves. This is a civil rights issue and a situation that puts lives at risk.
The NY State agency that Governor Cuomo has charged with monitoring and enforcing network adequacy is the Department of Financial Services. We are using the Project Access data to demand that Governor Cuomo and the Department of Financial Services launch a full scale investigation of access to care in New York State and to hold commercial health insurers’ feet to the fire.
If you agree, print this column, add a note saying “I agree” and include your name and address. You can write to the governor at: The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State, NYS State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224; email him at Press.Office@exec.ny.gov; or call him at 518-474-8418.
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, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
Andrew Malekoff featured on Mental Health Now television program, March 6, 2018
See this televised episode of Mental Health Now devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. With host Matthew Shapiro, NAMI-NYS and guests Tracie Gardner, Legal Action Center and Andrew Malekoff, North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center. Filmed on March 6, 2018 https://vimeo.com/259740918
The 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., has elevated beyond cliché status the oft-stated sentiment about a loss of innocence in childhood.
For many, the events of that day evoked painful memories of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and scores more in recent decades.
Schools, movie theaters, concert venues and more have become American killing fields.
After “thoughts and prayers” are paraded around by politicians from all sides, what happens next?
Many gun rights advocates, refusing to allow for the fact that our forefathers were talking about the right to bear arms such as muskets and had no conception of guns that could shoot down dozens in an instant, stand in the position that it’s not about guns but rather mental illness.
As the executive director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which serves children and their families facing issues such as depression, anxiety and substance use disorders, I have seen the many faces of mental illness and addictions for more than 40 years.
It is incredibly rare for those who are labeled as mentally ill to be violent. In fact, they are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators.
Nevertheless, we do need to have a discussion about mental illness at times like these. That discussion, however, needs to be about how health insurance companies and the elected officials who count on their donations are failing miserably at having adequate numbers of providers on their lists who take insurance.
Over and over again, we hear that, before they found North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which never turns anyone away for inability to pay, they made numerous calls to the mental health providers on their insurer’s list and found that they no longer take insurance or are booked for months.
Aside from receiving emotional first-aid, the surviving students from Douglas High are demonstrating that they need to take action; action that represents triumph over the demoralization of helplessness and despair.
Noted trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk said that “talking about the trauma is rarely if ever enough.”
Survivors have a need to create symbols such as memorials or participate in action that “enable them to mourn the dead and establish the historical and cultural meaning of the traumatic events.”
The surviving students from Parkland are turning their heartbreak and rage into activism by demanding a new look into America’s gun laws, as Emily Witt wrote in the New Yorker (Feb. 17).
In her encounters with some of the surviving students she reported that “Their grief was raw, their rage palpable.”
“Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Douglas, had the most searing indictment:
“The people in the government who were voted into power are lying to us. And us kids seem to be the only ones who notice and are prepared to call B.S.
“Companies, trying to make caricatures of the teenagers nowadays, saying that all we are self-involved and trend-obsessed and they hush us into submissions when our message doesn’t reach the ears of the nation, we are prepared to call B.S.
“Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the N.R.A., telling us nothing could ever be done to prevent this: we call B.S.
“They say that tougher gun laws do not prevent gun violence: we call B.S.”
From Columbine to Parkland, there have been so many shocking events in between. Too many have faded from consciousness.
As journalist Gary Smith, who wrote about a lesser known 2012 shooting at Chardon High School in Ohio, stated: “The clock is already ticking in the land of amnesia.”
How long before Parkland, too, is gone? If it is up to the young activists in Parkland, never.
Andrew Malekoff
Roslyn Heights
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, visit www.northshorechildguidance.org.
Remembering without awareness is a phrase I really like. It suggests the retrieval of a memory that escapes conscious awareness.
Recently, I passed the 20-year mark without either parent, and many more years without grandparents. One grandmother, Annie, died before I was born. I was named after her. The other, Jenny, died when I was too young to remember her. My grandfathers, Harry and Joseph, died a few years later, still during my childhood years, but I have memories of both of them.
Each had disabilities and prostheses. Both of Grandpa Harry’s legs were amputated as the result of diabetes. Grandpa Joe lost his eye as the result of a carpentry accident. Their disabilities were never hidden from me. I went with my dad and Grandpa Harry when he had his prosthetic legs fitted. Grandpa Joe regularly took his eye out and showed it to me on request. I used to wonder if I would have artificial parts when I got older.
In my first year of graduate school in 1976, I was assigned to intern in a program called “Aged in Distress.” It was a crisis intervention program for older people. I made home visits to people with physical and mental disabilities, as well as one woman who was bedridden and terminally ill.
Although my primary interest in becoming a social worker was to work with children and teenagers, I was surprised at how much I liked working with older people. I was 25 at the time. Thinking back, it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to me. Sometime after the internship, I realized that I was remembering without awareness the short time I had with my grandfathers.
Now I know that my early memories and recollections, whether I am consciously aware of them or not, influence how I feel about and relate to others in the present. As a child who experienced my grandfathers’ lives and deaths, I wasn’t conscious of the fact back then that one day I would be dealing with my parents’ aging, illnesses and deaths.
My father had cancer and my mother had heart and kidney problems. I traveled often from my home on Long Island to New Jersey to help care for them, some of that time at the same hospital in Newark where I was born in 1951.
One memorable evening—which also happens to have involved artificial body parts—was the time my mother fell and was taken to the hospital. She called me at 2 a.m. and said, “Andy, will you bring my Polident to the hospital?” Broken arm and bruised face, all she could think about was what she needed to keep her dentures in place so that she would look good.
I took the 90-minute drive from Long Beach to Newark at 2:30 am, retrieved her tooth powder from the medicine cabinet in her home, headed to Beth Israel hospital, spent a few hours with her and drove back to Long Island with enough time to make it to my office for work.
Although the trip was inconvenient, I was aware all along that one good turn deserves another. Both my mother and father took time caring for their parents when they aged while also caring for me and my brother. It is these kinds of life lessons that seep into your unconscious and define the person you become, with many generations to thank.
By Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children from birth through 24 and their families.
Published in the Anton Media Group papers, Feb. 7, 2018.
By: Adina Genn, Long Island Business News,February 2, 2018
On Long Island, a mother with “Cadillac level” medical benefits struggled to get her child counseling when all of the professionals she called on the North Shore said they don’t take insurance. A father with equally good medical coverage resorted to driving upstate to get his child therapy for the same reason.
These scenarios are not unique, as revealed in a yearlong study produced by North Shore Child Family Guidance Center, a children’s mental health agency headquartered in Roslyn Heights. Through its initiative, “Project Access,” the organization is exploring the challenge of providing timely, affordable mental health treatment and addiction care. It aims to pinpoint obstacles to accessing care and bring about change.
“The landscape for providing community-based mental health and addictions care has changed dramatically during the last decade,” said Andrew Malekoff, executive director of North Shore Child Family Guidance Center. “At the same time that the New York State government has focused most of its attention on Medicaid recipients, middle class families with commercial health insurance have been all but brushed aside.”
Concerns about access to treatment come at a time of a growing need for care. More than 43 million Americans have faced a mental health challenge and more than 20 million grappled with substance abuse, while more than 8 million struggled with both. That’s according to “Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Epidemics and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy,” a joint study by Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust, which looked at figures from 2006 to 2015.
And while federal law established in 2008 requires insurers to provide the same level of mental health and substance abuse services as physical health services, that parity has yet to come to fruition.
Substandard rates of reimbursement
“Fewer and fewer providers accept commercial health insurance,” Malekoff noted. “Why? Because they pay substandard rates of reimbursement, well below the Medicaid rate.”
These findings are similar to those of other experts. According to a 2017 study by Milliman, a consultancy with expertise in the healthcare industry, medical and surgical providers received higher reimbursement rates than behavioral providers for comparable services. Those lower rates for behavioral providers, according to the study, led to “lower network participation by these providers,” making it difficult for people to access treatment, or to seek treatment out of network. In New York, the Milliman study found, patients were 5.8 times more likely to go out of network for care.
Out of 650 Long Islanders surveyed in the Project Access study, nearly 40 percent said their insurance providers did not have an adequate number of providers.
State Senator Elaine Phillips: ‘We need to demand change.’
Photo courtesy of the office of state Sen. Elaine Phillips
Almost half of the survey’s participants said it was more difficult to find help for mental health or substance abuse problems than finding help for physical illnesses, especially once in crisis. Two-thirds said their insurance company was not helpful when it came to finding care for themselves or a family member.
And nearly 40 percent of participants claimed that stigma and affordability were deterrents as they sought care. In addition, 23 percent said they felt that their efforts in trying to access care proved unsuccessful.
“I tried seeking mental health counseling but every time I tried getting help either my insurance wouldn’t be accepted or it was a long waiting time,” a Project Access survey respondent said. This person “was scared at first” but ultimately did get needed care.
“Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of lack of progress, a lot of noncompliance from the insurers and, in many cases, not enough enforcement by state or federal regulators,” Henry Harbin, an advisor to the Parity Implementation Coalition and former chief executive of Magellan Health Services, told Marketplace, a program produced by American Public Media.
A push for change
Across the nation, leaders are pushing for change. For example, this week, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was in Spokane, Washington, supporting mental health parity.
And on Long Island, leaders are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to launch a full-scale investigation of “network adequacy,” which requires that health insurers maintain adequate numbers of providers as a condition of their license.
“The Project Access report is a damning indictment of where we are with mental health and addictions care in our state today,” state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, D–Long Beach, said. “We’re not in the 19th or even 20th century. We have to do better.”
“We now have the data when we write to our government and state agencies,” said state Sen. Elaine Phillips, R–Flower Hill. “We need to demand change so people get the support they deserve.”
In January, Kaminsky and Phillips described Project Access’ “startling results” in a joint letter to Maria Vullo, the superintendent of New York State Department of Financial Services.
They said it is “imperative” that the state “conduct(s) a thorough investigation to determine why insurance companies are not being held accountable for network adequacy.” And, they added, “failure to properly treat mental health issues feeds into the opioid epidemic we experience in society today.”
As Malekoff explained in an email to friends and colleagues, the disparity “is a civil rights issue and a matter of life and death.”
Andrew Malekoff, center, along with State Senators Elaine Phillips and Todd Kaminsky
Last week, the Roslyn-based North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center hosted a conference highlighting the difficulties Long Islanders face when seeking help for mental health or chemical dependency issues.
Project Access is a year-long study in which hundreds of Long Islanders were surveyed about their experiences in trying to obtain such medical help. The study was supported by the Long Island Unitarian Universalist Fund of the Long Island Community Foundation.
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.
Most disturbingly, almost 40 percent reported that stigma and affordability were impediments to seeking care.
“This report verifies what we have long known: Insurance companies and the government are not living up to their responsibility to provide people with quality, affordable and timely mental health and addictions care,” said Andrew Malekoff, executive director of the center. “Even though they are legally bound to have adequate networks of care, they fall far short of that mandate.”
Several speakers shared their stories.
“When my sister’s condition began to worsen, it put our entire family into crisis,” said Kerry Eller. “We knew she needed professional help to get her through this incredibly difficult time. It was extremely challenging to access appropriate treatment for my sister. The insurance company was not helpful with connecting us to in-network providers; they would give us referrals but when we would call, we would often find out that they no longer participated with our plan. It was exhausting and heart breaking to have to endure one failed call after another.”
“At our first visit to the ER, their first question wasn’t ‘How is he doing’ but rather ‘Do you have insurance that covers mental health care?’” added Janet Susin, the president of Queens/Nassau NAMI, on the troubles she faced in getting her son care for schizophrenia. “The reality is that there are not enough psychiatrists, particularly child psychiatrists, and very few are willing to take insurance. We need to do something to rectify that situation.”
Finally, Rebecca Sanin, President/CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, spoke of the great disparity in obtaining mental health care as opposed to care for physical illnesses. “Imagine if cancer patients faced delays and inadequate coverage; we would be up in arms as a region,” she said. “Project Access shows that two-thirds of respondents said insurance companies were not helpful and that it required multiple calls and contacts to access care. This is unconscionable. When a person is in crisis, the window to engage in treatment is small, and it may never open again if they are turned away.”
“We are calling on the New York State Department of Financial Services to launch a thorough investigation of this issue,” Malekoff added. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to advocate for change. Access delayed is access denied. People’s lives are at stake.”
Senator Elaine Phillips joined North Shore Child-Family Guidance Center officials at a news conference today to promote the importance of affordable and timely mental health care for all New York residents. . The news conference unveiled results to “Project Access,” a study conducted by the center that explores roadblocks individuals face when trying to obtain mental health and addiction care.
“Timely and affordable mental health and addiction care should be accessible to anyone in need.” Senator Elaine Phillips said. “I applaud the North Shore Child-Family Guidance Center for its unwavering support and dedicated work to raise awareness of a problem that has affected far too many middle and working class families on Long Island. ‘Project Access,’ the Center’s recent study, sheds much needed light on the obstacles individuals face when trying to obtain care for mental health illnesses and substance abuse problems.”
“Project Access” is an initiative to improve access to mental health and addictions care. Nearly 650 Long Islanders responded to the survey, with almost half of the respondents indicating that it was more difficult finding help for mental health or substance abuse problems than finding help for physical illnesses.
The North Shore Child & Family 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.
