Jonathan Kravat Memorial Golf & Tennis Classic
Long Island Business News, Aug. 18-24, 2017
GC resident honored at Golf and Tennis Classic
“The Garden City News,” Aug. 11, 2017
GC resident honored at Golf and Tennis Classic
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s 21st annual Jonathan Krevat Memorial Golf & Tennis Cl
assic was the place to be on Monday, June 19, at The Creek in Locust Valley.
This year’s honoree, Garden City resident Dan Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer, Donnelly Mechanical Corporation, and longtime supporter of the Guidance Center, shares the exciting news: “It was an incredible day at The Creek, with great competition and camaraderie. I’m thrilled to announce that we exceeded our goal and raised over $200,000 to help the Guidance Center do its important work.”
Also, with the help of our outstanding auctioneer Jerry Loughran, we were able to raise an additional $15,000 for our Children’s Center at Nassau County Family Court.
Donnelly, a Garden City resident, had created a new format to this year’s event, with four teams competing for the Krevat Cup: one from Garden City, with Donnelly as the team captain; one from Manhasset, with Mike Mondiello as captain; NYC captain Troy Slade; and East Coast team captain Michael Schnepper.
Our tennis players enjoyed the great courts at The Creek in Locust Valley“I’m proud to say that Team Manhasset won the Krevat Cup,” says Mondiello, “but what’s most important is that our 200-plus guests put their all into raising such a large amount for the Guidance Center. In addition, everyone had a great time playing golf and tennis and socializing during an incredible steak and lobster dinner! And we were so fortunate that Mother Nature held off her wrath until everyone was indoors for the cocktail hour.”
Event sponsors included: Diamond Sponsor Americana Manhasset; Silver Medal Sponsor Donnelly Mechanical Corp.; Bronze Medal Sponsor Jeff Krevat; Caddy Sponsor Bahnik Foundation; and Tees & Greens Sponsors Susan & Peter Braverman, Compound Contracting Corp., Hucke and Associates and Mechanical Technologies.
Jeff Krevat, Honoree Dan Donnelly, and Guidance Center Executive Director Andrew Malekoff as Dan accepts his award.The dedicated members of the Golf & Tennis Committee were: Anthony Barbiero, Jared Beschel, Jack Bransfield, John Bransfield, John R. Buran, Rita Castagna, Inge Costa, Becky Creavin, Steven Dubb, Josephine Ewing, Patricia Janco-Tupper, Larry Jones, Mike Katz, Jeff Krevat, Nancy Lane, Jeremy Shao and Paul Vitale.
Mike McGowan with a birdie on the 12th hole with Tim Krieg and Peter Samaan
Guidance Center Holds Ladies Night Out
Blank Slate Papers, August 4, 2017
An Abundance of Heart
September marks the start of another new school year and, for football diehards, it’s also the kickoff to a new season. The flowing together of the two brings to mind the moving story of former Florida State University (FSU) wide receiver Travis Rudolph and Bo Paske, a sixth grade boy with autism.
At the start of the school year in 2016, Rudolph and several teammates visited Montford Middle School in Tallahassee, located near the FSU campus. When Travis spotted 11-year-old Bo sitting alone in the cafeteria, he walked over with his slice of pizza, joined him, and struck up a conversation.
Travis’ simple act of kindness drew national attention when a photo of the two sitting across from one another went viral. Bo described the lunch as “kind of like me sitting on a rainbow.” Travis remarked: “A lot of people give me credit for doing what I did, even though I just see it as that is me.”
Bo told Travis that he was a big FSU fan. The two of them stayed in touch after their first encounter.
Leah Paske, Bo’s mom, wrote about it on Facebook: “Several times lately I have tried to remember my time in middle school. Did I have many friends? Did I sit with anyone at lunch? Just how mean were kids really? Now that I have a child starting middle school, I have feelings of anxiety for him, and they can be overwhelming. Sometimes I’m grateful for his autism. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but in some ways I think, I hope, it shields him. He doesn’t seem to notice when people stare at him when he flaps his hands. He doesn’t seem to notice that he doesn’t get invited to birthday parties anymore. And he doesn’t seem to mind if he eats lunch alone.”
She went on to say, “A friend of mine sent this beautiful picture to me today and when I saw it with the caption ‘Travis Rudolph is eating lunch with your son’ I replied ‘Who is that?’ He said ‘FSU football player,’ then I had tears streaming down my face. I’m not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I’m happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten. This is one day I didn’t have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone, because he sat across from someone who is a hero in many eyes.”
Difference and inclusion are terms that are increasingly in vogue in today’s public schools. Growing numbers of children who were previously separated in special education classes and schools are being integrated into the “mainstream” in order to reduce costs and provide less restrictive environments for learning and social-emotional development.
Labeled children, particularly as they approach adolescence, are often objectified, devalued, isolated and ridiculed by their peers. Objectification robs individuals of their humanity. In such relationships the different child simply becomes “the other,” the one too often left out in the cold.
In an era when there seems to be no shortage of awful stories generating from college campuses, the story and photo of Travis and Bo is a breath of fresh air. Henry James said that “a good story is both a picture and idea, and that the picture and the idea should try to be interfused.”
The picture of Travis joining Bo at the lunch table tells us that a simple act of kindness can go a long way to making a difference in someone’s life. We learned from Travis that what it takes is just a little effort—and an abundance of heart.
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.
Anton Media, August 2-8, 2017
A Tree for All Seasons
In a four year span during the mid to late 1990s my now-grown children lost three of their grandparents and their dog. My boys were 10 and 6 when my father died in 1994. Three years later there were three more losses. My mom died in 1997. A little more than one year later my father-in-law and dog Kirby, a cairn terrier, died on the same day in August 1998. My wife and I were in Quebec City at a music festival, at the time, on our first extended vacation away from our children when we received the news in two heartbreaking telephone calls just six hours apart.
As a mental health professional who has spent time with bereaved children and adults over many years, I had extensive knowledge about how children process death at different ages. Over the years I developed good skills in listening and gently encouraging the expression of feelings through talk and play. But I also knew that addressing the death of strangers was not the same thing as coping with one’s own losses.
Like so much that I have struggled with as a parent, I knew I had to put my credentials aside and simply do the best I could to support my family and take care of myself, as I was bereaved as well.
Soon thereafter my family and I experienced another death—this time with an impact I had not expected and effects that linger to this day. In our yard was an old pine tree that had to be felled after it contracted a disease. None of the tree “experts” that I employed could bring it back to health.
It was a splendid tree of great character, oddly shaped, home to a squirrel’s nest and countless birds, and with branches sitting low enough for swinging and climbing. Its trunk was thick enough to run around to evade contact during games of tag. It was free enough of branches in one high spot to support a backboard and hoop.
It wasn’t easy to dribble on the grass but it was just perfect for endless games of H-O-R-S-E. On the warmest summer days its shade offered respite from the oppressive sun. Each fall I was left with the unpleasant task of raking pine needles. But our tree also bore pine cones that I threw into the winter fireplace for extra snap, crackle and pop that rivaled Rice Krispies.
It was our family tree, a tree for all seasons.
Today, when I look outside or sit in the yard I am flooded with memories of my old friend and the times we had together. We’ve planted a few new trees around the perimeter of the yard in the intervening years, but the hole in the center remains.
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.”
Life is full of surprises, and it came as a surprise to me to think that I would one day be thinking about how much I really loved that old tree.
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.
LI People On the Move
Newsday, July 20, 2017
The Guidance Center’s Golf & Tennis Classic
Roslyn Times, Blank Slate Media, July 7, 2017
AHCA hurts youth struggling with mental illness and addiction
From New York Nonprofit Media, June 28, 2017
About 20 percent of adolescents ages 13-18 have a mental health problem, yet only 40 percent of those get help. The average time it takes to seek help is eight to 10 years. And 1 in 12 high school students attempt suicide, making it the third-leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 160,000 youth ages 10-24 receive medical care for self-inflicted injuries at emergency departments across the U.S.
These dreadful numbers will only rise if the American Health Care Act that was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, or anything like it, gets approved by the U.S. Senate and enacted into law.
If the AHCA is passed, basic protections for children and youth with pre-existing conditions, including mental illness and addictions, will be eliminated. The federal requirement that mental health be included by insurers as an essential benefit will be removed.
Federal parity law requires health insurance issuers to make sure that essential health benefits such as copays and deductibles, as well as visit limits, apply equally to mental health and substance abuse treatment and to other medical benefits. In contrast, the AHCA allows states to waive certain federal protections, such as essential health benefits, which means that they would have the option to eliminate mental health parity and addiction equity in exchange plans.
The $880 billion in federal Medicaid cuts included in the AHCA will lead to an enormous reduction in mental health coverage for millions of families. Although only five percent of children ages 5-18 are uninsured, if a bill like this passes the U.S. Senate, it would be a setback for the goal of universal health care for our children – despite the fact that safety-net programs like Medicaid were created specifically to protect all vulnerable citizens.
House Speaker Paul Ryan referred to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act as an “act of mercy.” In response, U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts said turning a cold shoulder to the mentally ill is not an “act of mercy.” It is an “act of malice.”
Passing the AHCA would mean more community-based children’s mental health agencies will close or have to significantly restrict access to care or dilute services to balance their budgets. When those organizations emphasize cost management over care, more families struggling with mental illness or addiction could find their children in emergency rooms, costly institutional settings, on the street, in jail, or worse.
The looming threat of a national health insurance policy that strips away parity and equity for mental health and substance abuse is an attack on us all. It discriminates against the most vulnerable and is a clear denial of civil rights.
Treatment is the most effective way to help.Treatment requires insurance coverage, just like any other health problem. Limiting access to care compounds the public health challenges of mental illness and addiction. The answer is not Obamacare or Trumpcare; we need bipartisan care that is affordable, effective and accessible.
Andrew Malekoff is the executive director of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which provides comprehensive mental health services for children and their families.
Grant for North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center
Blank Slate Media, June 23, 2017
On Our Island: Nonprofit highlights of the week
From Long Island Business News, June 23-29, 2017
(From left) John Grillo and Andrew Malekoff took part in the dedication ceremony for Johnny’s Garage, a North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center facility.
Spring Luncheon Benefits Local Families
From the Boulevard Magazine, Anton Media, Spring 2017
A Chance Encounter – Or More?
Have you heard of godwinks? A godwink is an experience where you’d say, “What are the chances of that!” It’s been described by some as a spiritual message of reassurance, especially in times of uncertainty, maybe the impetus for restored faith during difficult times. Some see it as divine intervention, others as pure coincidence.
Although I was not familiar with the term, it reminded me of something that happened to me that I thought was astonishing. In 2005 I lost a very good friend and colleague named Roselle. We had become business partners in 1990. The longtime editors of a popular professional journal decided to step down and asked the two of us, strangers at the time, to become their successors.
Years later we both revealed that we were, at first, wary of each other. After all, we’d never met, and so we had no idea what it would be like working together as co-editors of an esteemed quarterly publication. Roselle was a university professor and I was a frontline mental health practitioner. What we shared in common was that we were both published authors.
After a relatively short period of testing and unease we not only became great collaborators but fast friends. The relationship ended in June of 2005 when I received a call that Roselle had died. It was sudden, unexpected and heartbreaking.
Shortly thereafter, in December 2005, I organized a meeting with two of Roselle’s fellow professors and friends. Together we decided to develop a special publication in Roselle’s honor. We were to meet in Manhattan at their university. Normally, I would have just taken the LIRR into the city them morning of our meeting, but, as luck would have it, at the time there was a transit strike. So I decided to play it safe and get in the night before and stay in a hotel while the trains were still running.
That night I took a walk and stopped in a bar to get a glass of wine. I walked to the end of the bar and there was my cousin Amy whom I had not seen in years. Unbeknownst to me, she lived across the street from the bar and was working as a real estate broker. It was great catching up with her.
Fast forward some months later. I was back in Manhattan to take care of some business regarding my partnership with Roselle at a local university. Having reconnected, I called Amy to see if she was free for lunch. She was and so we got together. She asked me why I was in the city. I told her I had to go to Hunter College School of Social Work to take care of some business related to a partnership I had with a professor there. I explained that she died last June. She asked me, “What was name?” I told her, “Roselle Kurland.” She gasped and said, “Oh my God, I just sold her apartment!”
Was this a godwink? Was it a tangible signpost giving me hope and faith that someone is watching over me and everything is going to be alright? Or was it pure coincidence, a fluke? I choose to think that it was more than that. During these uncertain times, a source of faith, however unusual, is a welcome reminder that we are not alone and that there is hope.
From Anton Media Group, May 24-30, 2017
Garage dedicated to John Grillo
Blank Slate Media, May 19, 2017
Guidance Center Holds Spring Luncheon
From Blank Slate Media, May 5, 2017
Guidance Center Hosts 21st Annual Jonathan Krevat Memorial Golf & Tennis Classic
Roslyn Heights, NY, May 15, 2017 —North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center will be holding its 21st annual Jonathan Krevat Memorial Golf & Tennis Classic on Monday, June 19, at The Creek in Locust Valley, and the competition is heating up!
This year’s honoree is Dan Donnelly, chief executive officer, Donnelly Mechanical Corporation, and longtime supporter of the Guidance Center. Donnelly, a Garden City resident, has created a whole new approach to this year’s event, with four teams competing for the Krevat Cup: one from Garden City, with Donnelly as the team captain; one from Manhasset, with Mike Mondiello as captain; NYC captain Troy Slade; and East Coast team captain Michael Schnepper. As in the great tradition of the Davis Cup and the Ryder Cup, the “Krevat Cup” will be awarded to one of four competing teams.
“The reason I love Garden City is because it’s a kids’ town,” said Donnelly. “Nothing is more important than the wellbeing of our kids. That’s why my fellow GC-ers and I are competing (well, that and they love golf and tennis). But our team could definitely still use some help! Reach out to the Guidance Center- it’s a great cause- and tell them I sent you. Go Team Garden City!”
“This is going to be a phenomenal event,” said Mondiello. “The Creek is an amazing golf course. The location can’t be beat. The energy is high. And after golf, the outdoor beach club cocktail and dinner time will make it a truly classic and classy event! Team Manhasset is ready to bring home the Krevat Cup! ”
“The goal is to raise no less than $200,000 this year, all of which goes to support the important work of the Guidance Center,” says East Coast captain Michael Schnepper. “So for those in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and beyond, join my team! Let’s not let Garden City and Manhasset rule the roost.”
The New York City captain is equally pumped up for his team’s performance. “It’s not too late to sign up and show Long Island what NYC is all about!” says Slade.
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is the preeminent nonprofit, children’s mental health agency on Long Island, dedicated to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children (from birth to age 24) and their families. For more than 60 years, the Guidance
Center has been a place of hope and healing, providing innovative and compassionate treatment to all regardless of their ability to pay.
For those interested in joining a team, it’s not too late! Contact Diana Martin, dmartin@northshorechildguidance.org, 516-626-1971, ext. 309.
Johnny’s Garage
Roslyn Heights, NY, May 10, 2017 — What’s your favorite room in your home? For some, it may be difficult to choose just one. But John Grillo, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s former board president, says there’s no doubt which room his father Johnny would have chosen: the garage!
In honor of his father’s memory, John Grillo, in addition to contributing and helping to raise funds for the renovation of the Guidance Center’s garage, made a separate significant gift to officially name it “Johnny’s Garage.”
On May 8, several staff, clients and community members joined together to dedicate the garage to the senior Grillo, whom his son describes with great affection. “Johnny’s Garage is dedicated to my father, a man who was always fixing something. He was military trained during WWII as an aircraft and auto mechanic, but was equally comfortable around anything with an engine. It made absolutely no difference whether it was manufactured in 1925 or 1999. He was truly a mechanic’s mechanic with an unrestrained passion to repair things….anything.”
Grillo shared his experiences watching his father working on a 1957 Jaguar XK-120, which hadn’t run in more than 15 years: “He charged the battery, removed and replaced the spark plugs, installed a new set of points, a new condenser and rotor, drained and changed the oil and oil filter, checked the spark, adjusted the timing, cleaned out some very gunked up carburetors, sprayed some Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders, turned the engine over, and then vroom…..five hours later this classic car was running like a top.”
He proudly noted that his father was happy to help anyone in need. “All of our friends, neighbors and relatives knew that if they had a problem, just go see Johnny Grillo and he’d fix it. I think his confidence and belief in himself was the major ingredient in his magnificent tool bag.”
Also that evening, the garage was “christened” by the Guidance Center’s Parent Support Group, where clients utilized the garage as a painting studio and created vibrant canvases of sunflowers.
“We’re so grateful to John Grillo for his longtime support of the Guidance Center,” said Executive Director Andrew Malekoff. “John is clearly like his Dad in that when there is a need, he’s right there to help provide a solution. His service to our mission has been unwavering.”
Regina Barros-Rivera Honored at 2017 “What’s Great in Our State – A Celebration of Children’s Mental Health Awareness”
Guidance Center offering wide range of innovative programs for families
Long Island Business News, April 28, 2017
As the preeminent not-for-profit chil- dren’s mental health agency on Long Is- land, North Shore Child & Family Guid- ance Center is dedicated to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children (from birth – age 24) and their families. The highly trained staff of psy- chiatrists, clinical social workers, psycholo- gists, mental health counselors, vocational rehabilitation counselors and family advo- cates lead the way in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, training, parent education, research and advocacy.
The Guidance Center helps children and families address issues such as de- pression and anxiety; developmental de- lays; bullying; teen pregnancy; sexual abuse; teen drug and alcohol abuse; and family crises stemming from illness, death, trauma and divorce. For 64 years, the Guidance Center has been a place of hope and healing, providing innovative and compassionate treatment to all who enter its doors. Unlike many organizations, the Guidance Center never turns anyone away for inability to pay.
What distinguishes the Guidance Center from similar organizations is its focus on innovative programs that address specific community needs. At its three main sites, the headquarters in Roslyn Heights, The Marks Family Right From the Start 0-3+ Center in Manhasset, and the Leeds Place in Westbury, the Guidance Center offers a variety of programs. They include the
Diane Goldberg Maternal Depression Pro- gram, which helps mothers experiencing post-partum depression as well as moth- ers of young children suffering from mood and anxiety disorders; C-GRASP (Care- givers Grandparent Respite and Support Program), which provides peer support ac- tivities, counseling, housing assistance and school advocacy; Changing Families, for children experiencing the divorce of their parents; Good Beginnings for Babies, which works with pregnant and parenting teens to promote healthier pregnancies, healthier babies and happier relationships between parent and child; and The Latina Girls Project, a multicultural and bilingual pro- gram that helps address the epidemic of de- pression and anxiety among young Latinas.
The Guidance Center also runs several programs outside the walls of its three main buildings. In partnership with Nas- sau B.O.C.E.S., the Guidance Center oper- ates the Intensive Support Program (ISP) in three Nassau County Schools, serving children from ages 5 to 21 years of age from all 56 Nassau districts.
“This program provides students who are experiencing serious emotional prob- lems an alternative to institutional or more restrictive settings,” explains An- drew Malekoff, Executive Director and CEO of the Guidance Center. “At the ISP, students receive mental health counseling, psychiatric care and special academic help to ensure they have successful school ca-
reers and graduate with their peers.”
The Guidance Center also operates a program called The Children’s Center at Nassau County Family Court. There, chil- dren from 6 weeks to 12 years are engaged in reading and other literacy programs in a safe, enriching and beautifully equipped en- vironment while their parents are conduct- ing court business. More than just a child care center, it is serves as an early learning
center and as a community resource. Finally, recognizing the value of out-
door experiences in nature, the Guidance Center operates two organic gardens, a Nature Nursery and a Wilderness Respite Program, which provides a unique oppor- tunity for at-risk adolescents to participate in nature activities that foster individu- al growth, leadership skills, mindfulness, self-esteem and friendships while also pro- moting environmental stewardship.
Whenever a child or family is in need, the Guidance Center is there to provide dedicated, expert and innovative care.
Nassau County Office of Mental Health May 1 2017 newsletter
Nassau County Office of Mental Health May 1 2017 newsletter
The American reality today is 1 in 5 children has or will have a serious mental illness. More children suffer from psychiatric illness than from autism, leukemia, diabetes and AIDS combined. Yet, the average delay between the onset of symptoms and intervention is 8 to 10 years. Nevertheless, we continue to treat illnesses above the neck differently than those below the neck.
There is great misunderstanding and fear among many who have erroneous ideas about people with mental illness. Consequently, young people suffering with mental illness walk around feeling isolated, believing that there’s something inherently wrong with them that will never change.
We must do more to identify mental health problems early and then, when indicated, provide ready access to quality community-based mental health care.
This is difficult to accomplish when resources for outpatient children’s mental health care are dwindling for middle class and working poor families. Access to care remains a daunting problem for families who hesitate to ask for help due to stigma and the shame it generates. When they finally call for help, they are often denied the timely, affordable and geographically sensitive care they need from insurers with inadequate networks of providers.
For 64 years, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center has been dedicated to offering our clients the gold standard in community-
based mental health care. The Guidance Center is headquartered in Roslyn Heights, with branch offices in Manhasset and Westbury. Our catchment area is all of Nassau County.
At the Guidance Center, where we turn no one away for inability to pay, we are receiving increasing numbers of referrals of children and youth at unprecedented rates of risk and danger, many of whom are at risk for institutional placement, the most costly form of care.
To prevent this costly alternative, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center has developed an array of intensive outpatient services to keep children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances at home and in their communities. These include office-based, home-based, and school-based mental health services that are provided by teams of qualified health professional and family advocate/professional parents working in partnership to optimize care coordination. Following are highlights of just a few of these initiatives:
LATINA GIRLS PROJECT
In recent years, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center has been fielding a record number of calls through our triage, emergency and high risk team from the families of Hispanic teen girls in dire need of help. These first-generation Latinas were coming to the Guidance Center with severe depression, self-harming behaviors, school refusal and suicidal thoughts or attempts. Many had been victims of sexual and emotional abuse or witnesses to domestic violence.
It became clear that there was a consistent theme among these young Latinas-the overwhelming feeling that they could never merge the cultural expectations of their families with their desire to fit into life in contemporary American society. They yearned to be more like their peers, but feared that would cause tremendous pain to their parents, many of whom had immigrated to America after experiencing severe trauma in their war-torn and poverty-stricken native countries.
In response to the crisis, the Guidance Center began the Latina Girls Project, an innovative program designed to foster effective, open and healing communication among these young women and their parents.
Through a culturally sensitive and holistic approach, our staff of bilingual and bicultural counselors and social workers- many of whom are also first-generation Latinas-provides individual therapy, family therapy, and weekly group meetings for the girls and their parents.
The Latina Girls Project also includes supervised outings for the girls that are designed to help them develop self-esteem, learn responsibility, gain team-building skills, and realize that the larger world offers them many opportunities to lead successful, joyful lives.
The Latina Girls Project was profiled in an award-winning nationwide story published by the Journalism Center on Children & Families at the University of Maryland.
ORGANIC GARDENS
Young people are inundated with constant stimulation from their digital devices, with many glued in front of computer screens and video games as they struggle with feelings of loneliness and rejection. That lack of connection to the natural world negatively impacts them physically, emotionally and socially.
To address this problem, the Guidance Center has added an organic garden initiative to our weekend wilderness program. This offers a unique opportunity for at-risk adolescents and children to participate in nature activities that foster individual growth, leadership skills, self-esteem, mindfulness and improved group communication while also promoting environmental stewardship. Young people tend to our two organic garden programs located at the Guidance Center’s headquarters in Roslyn Heights and early childhood center in Manhasset, where they water, seed and weed, filling with delight as they see their hard work grow into a healthy harvest.
Through the dedication of these young people, we had a bountiful surplus that was donated to local food pantries, a fact that made the teens—and our staff who have the honor of nurturing them—extremely proud.
GOOD BEGINNINGS FOR BABIES
The statistics on teenage pregnancy paint an alarming picture: babies born to teen mothers are more likely to be premature and have low birthweights, resulting in potentially long-term cognitive and health problems. Without proper care, the teen moms are also at high risk for physical, emotional and economic woes.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Our Good Beginnings for Babies program works with pregnant and parenting teens to promote healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and happier relationships between parent and child.
In our weekly prenatal and parenting groups, teens receive education on crucial issues such as nutrition, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, newborn care and perinatal mood disorders. They also benefit from home visits by a parent educator who shares information and resources to help these young families.
May 1, 2017 Vol. 1: No. 2 Page 4
component of Good Beginnings for Babies will help prepare mothers for their most important role: to be their child’s first teacher.
CAREGIVERS GRANDPARENT RESPITE AND SUPPORT PROGRAM (C-GRASP)
What happens when parents are unable to care for their children? In many cases, the responsibility falls to their parents, many of whom face serious challenges as they strive to raise these youngsters. That’s why we created C-GRASP, the Caregivers Grandparent Respite and Support Program.
Through partnerships with a supportive team of local entities, including the Town of North Hempstead’s Project Independence, we provide the grandparents with a variety of services, including respite and peer support activities, counseling, clothing and other necessities, housing assistance, transportation and school advocacy.
Home visits are a major focal point, as we identify an increasing number of grandparent caregivers with illnesses that limit their ability to leave their homes. In partnership with Long Island Cares and Long Island Harvest, we added a food supplement component to our home visits this year, delivering fruits, vegetables and other nutritious items to each household.
The grandparents have created strong bonds among themselves and also social connections for their grandchildren, joining together for recreational activities in their homes. These dedicated caregivers continue to reach out to others faced with similar challenges, sharing their experiences, strength and hope.
INTENSIVE SUPPORT PROGRAM
A good education is the foundation of a successful life, inspiring knowledge, creativity, social bonds and an economically promising future. But for children with serious emotional difficulties, the regular school environment can be overwhelming. These kids are the most likely to drop out—and also be the targets of bullying.
The Intensive Support Program (ISP), a collaborative program developed by Nassau B.O.C.E.S and the Guidance Center, provides a therapeutic and nurturing alternative, offering intensive mental health services onsite at three schools for students ages 5-21 from all 56 Nassau County school districts. We reach more than 150 students each year.
ISP takes a team approach, as members of the Guidance Center staff work with each school’s administrators, counselors and teachers to support the students’ emotional and academic needs. ISP services include individual, group and family therapy; crisis intervention; coordination of family services; and medication management, when needed.
While the students are required to follow the same curricula as in other educational settings, the lessons are individualized to meet each student’s learning style. Through ISP, students develop the skills that are necessary for growth and success both on an academic and emotional level. We’re proud to be helping our most vulnerable children and teens achieve their full potential!
SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES
Drug and alcohol treatment and prevention services are provided for children, teenagers and their families at the Guidance Center’s Leeds Place-serving young people in Westbury.
Substance abuse services include: counseling for youth using/abusing substances; children who live in families with a parent suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction; youth who have co-occurring chemical dependency and mental health issues. Prevention services are provided to local school districts.
Andrew Malekoff, LCSW, CASAC, Executive Director
If you would like to participate in our research project and lend your voice to improving access to care, please go to this link to complete our IRB-approved survey: http://studentvoice.com/liu/projectaccess
Guidance Center Raises Over $63,000 at Spring Luncheon
Roslyn Heights, NY, April 28, 2017 — On April 27, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center held its Annual Spring Luncheon at Glen Head Country Club, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Cynthia Pizzulli, a renowned psychotherapist, lecturer and adolescent parenting expert. The event was attended by 200 people and made more than $63,000 to support the important work of the Guidance Center.
Guests began the day playing Mahjong and Canasta and then shopped at the event’s many boutiques, featuring some of Long Island’s trendiest and most charitable small business owners. Fine Jewelry, housewares, and designer purses were just some of the many items for sale.
At the delicious luncheon buffet, attendees were riveted by Dr. Pizzulli who spoke about the pros and cons of social media for teens. “I have good news,” said Dr. Pizzulli. “Your tweens and teens are not doomed because they use social media. The key is to teach them healthy boundaries, so they don’t act impulsively and post anything too personal or inappropriate.”
Dr. Pizzulli was introduced by Jaci Clement, who moderated the discussion following Dr. Pizzulli’s presentation.
Clement is a media expert with more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry. She is executive director of the Fair Media Council, a New York metro area media watch organization. In supporting our message of removing stigma, Clement said, “The more we can do to raise awareness of mental illness, the faster we can retire the stigmas associated with it and people can get the help they need and deserve. The Guidance Center has built an exceptional legacy of caring for this community, and that’s something that can only be accomplished when the people involved are pure of heart and steadfast in spirit.”
Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director of the Guidance Center, said, “I was very impressed with Dr. Pizzulli’s presentation and also the questions from the audience. We all need to be aware of both the benefits and dangers to our children and teens of social media, and she provided excellent guidance to help parents navigate this new world.”
The event was a huge success due in part to the support of some very generous sponsors including: Jill Berman, Amy Cantor, Rita Castagna, Ruth Fortunoff Cooper, Flushing Bank, Joan Grant, iThrive, Klipper Family Foundation, Jack & Dorothy Kupferberg Family Foundation, Andrea Leeds, Marion & Irving Levine, Power Travel, Raich Ende Malter & Co. LLP, Cynthia Rubinberg, Alexis Siegel, Signature Bank, South Oaks Hospital, Lisa Strauss, Baker Tilly and Carol & Arnold Wolowitz Foundation.
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.
Barros-Rivera to be honored May 2
Appeared in Blank Slate Media, April 21, 2017
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Social Media and Parenting Expert to Speak At Guidance Center Luncheon
Roslyn Heights, NY, April 20, 2017 —On April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center will be holding its Annual Spring Luncheon at Glen Head Country Club. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Cynthia Pizzulli, LCSW, PhD, who will offer wonderful insights about social media and its effects on our children today. Dr. Pizzulli is a renowned psychotherapist, lecturer and adolescent parenting expert. She will present The Reasons Why Social Media is Not the Problem You Think It Is. She will dispel the myths about social media being the cause of mental health problems among today’s youth; define the actual causes of emotional distress experienced by tweens/teens in this electronic age; and identify some tools parents can use to encourage healthy adolescent development.
The Luncheon will open with Mahjong, Canasta, and Bridge. Then it will transition to a delicious luncheon buffet and most informative and engaging presentation by Dr. Pizzulli. Throughout, we will feature shopping boutiques from some of Long Island’s trendiest and most charitable small business owners. There will also be plenty of opportunities to participate in raffles for luxury prizes.
After Dr. Pizzulli’s presentation, she will be interviewed by Jaci Clement, a media expert with more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry. She is executive director of the Fair Media Council, a New York metro area media watch organization. Ms. Clement speaks around the country on the importance of being a media savvy consumer. She has created a media literacy program and brought it into the classroom, believing strongly that news literacy and literacy skills must develop simultaneously to enhance children’s deductive reasoning and critical thinking abilities.
Registration is now open and sponsorships are available by visiting our website, www.northshorechildguidance.org or calling 516-626-1971, ext. 309.
About Us:
As the pre-eminent 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.
Run-D.M.C. Founder Inspires Teens
On March 9, 2017 I had the honor of introducing Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, a founding member of the early hip hop group Run-D.M.C. Young and old of all backgrounds gathered together at the Leeds Place of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center in Westbury for a community forum.
If you don’t already know, DMC is a hip hop pioneer, a rap poet and an inspiring prophet. The packed house at the Leeds Place got to experience all three in a two hour tour-de-force in which Darryl taught us about the history of hip hop, delighted us with rap lyrics and moved us with intimate stories of resiliency.
When I introduced Darryl, I told the audience that I learned that his favorite things to do as a child were to read comic books and pretend to be a superhero. In fact, I told them, he now produces comic books under the DMC – Darryl Makes Comics – label.
Darryl’s comics are not about traditional superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk. Darryl, I learned, believes that there are heroes in everyday life with powerful stories to tell. Just like everyone in the room tonight, I said.
Darryl is 52 years old, six feet tall and solidly built, with muscular arms bulging from his tight black t-shirt. He spoke for two hours without a break, moving about energetically without breaking a sweat.
He inspired the crowd with the story of when he was a young boy growing up in Hollis, Queens, and he was a self-described Catholic School nerd who wore thick-framed glasses and read comic books all the time. He said he liked school.
He gave a great history lesson about the birth and meaning of hip hop. He described how neighborhood kids who had little in the way of physical resources brought music and art to the parks and streets by plugging turntables and speakers into light poles, making dance floors out of cardboard boxes and creating street art by painting and drawing on walls.
In his talk, Darryl encouraged the young people in the room with transcendent and core messages of hip hop: “Always be open to do something different. It could change your life.”
Darryl spoke about his unexpected rise to fame and fortune, exhorting the young people to develop what they like to do, try new things, take chances and, most important, to know that “no matter what you’re going through, you’re worth something.”
He went on to say that despite his early rise to fame and fortune, at the age of 35 he discovered that he was adopted and was a foster child. Around the same time he went through a period of suicidal depression and became addicted to alcohol.
When he finally sought professional help, he discovered that he had been suppressing powerful feelings his whole life, especially things that angered him. Despite the powerful lyrics in his raps, he said that he never wanted to make waves in his personal relationships.
Some of the lessons he learned were: “You have to express your truth. It’s normal to feel. Release what you’re going through. Your situation doesn’t define who you are.”
In time, with the help of his adoptive parents, Darryl met his biological mom who told him that she gave him up so that he could have a better life.
In the end, before Darryl patiently signed autographs, posed for photos and chatted with kids and parents, I closed the meeting by saying, “DMC gave his music to the world. And, tonight Darryl gave us his heart.”
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.
Anton Media, April 26, 2017
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Guidance Center Associate Executive Director Honored by NY State
Regina Barros-Rivera designated as leader who is
“Great In Our State” in children’s mental health
Roslyn Heights, NY, April 13, 2017 — North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is pleased to announce that Regina Barros-Rivera, our Associate Executive Director, has been chosen to be honored at the 2017 “What’s Great in Our State—A Celebration of Children’s Mental Health Awareness” reception for her leadership role in the organization. She will be presented with the award on Tuesday, May 2nd, from 2-4:30 pm at the Huxley Auditorium in the New York State Museum in Albany.
The award is very competitive. Only three individual honorees and two programs are selected statewide for successfully addressing the issues of children’s mental health, including successful intervention on behalf of children and their families.
According to Andrew Malekoff, Executive Director and CEO of the Guidance Center, Ms. Barros-Rivera’s contribution to the organization is critical to the Center’s success. “We count on Regina’s leadership in the overall clinical operation, from providing direct care to families to creating innovative programs that have healed thousands of children, teens and families,” he says. “One of her many contributions is the Latina Girls Project, which Regina created as a result of the high incidence of suicide among this population. With the Latina Girls Project, these girls and their families are given the social, emotional and psychological support they need in a bicultural and bilingual context. This program has saved lives and staked hopeful paths for these girls.”
“I am honored to be part of an organization that supports services to children and families in dire need who have limited access to comprehensive quality-of-care clinical services,” says Barros-Rivera. “Alone we cannot provide the much needed care for our children and families but as part of a collaborative of caregivers and the community, we can take on challenges that will give our children and families emotional safety and stability.”
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.
Neiman Marcus lunch, makeover event
