by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Nov 9, 2017 | Blog
If your child has a fever of 104, you know it’s time to take him or her to the doctor. But how do you know if it’s time to take your child to a therapist?
Most children and teens will experience anger, anxiety and sadness at times. It’s part of growing up. They might have a fight with a friend, or be struggling with a subject at school, or question whether they fit in with their peers. Hormonal changes can also create moodiness and irritability. And bullying can also be a factor.
So, while it’s typical for your youngster to have times of struggle and rebellion, how is a parent to know whether it’s time to seek out professional help?
“Children at different developmental stages express their feelings differently than adults,” says Regina Barros-Rivera, Associate Executive Director at North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center. “Sadness may be displayed by aggression, agitation or moodiness. A child may withdraw, increase sleep or be unable to sleep, or have a poor appetite.”
Changes in behavior surrounding school are another important factor. “It could involve a change in attitude about school work, inconsistency with getting up on time or, even more critical, school refusal,” says Barros-Rivera.
According to the National Association of School Psychologists, each year approximately 2%–5% of children refuse to go to school due to anxiety or depression. School refusal could be a sign of social anxiety, says Barros-Rivera, or it could indicate an increase in difficulty handling more academic demands. Bullying may be a factor. School refusal can also represent the onset of depression.
Here are some warning signs that your child may need professional help:
Does your child or teen…
- Often express feeling anxious or worried
- Seem moody or irritable much of the time
- Get angry and argue frequently
- Have difficulty making/keeping friends
- Have no interest in things they used to enjoy
- Say they’re sick often but with no physical cause
- Lie consistently
- Use drugs or alcohol
- Have little energy
- Have periods of intense, excessive activity
- Self-harm (cutting, burning, pulling hair)
- Harm others or express the desire to harm others
- Engage in risky, destructive behavior
- Express suicidal thoughts
- See or hear things others do not
Once you’ve determined that it’s time to call a therapist, how do you find the right one for your child? One place to start is by asking for references from your child’s school guidance counselor. Also, if you have friends who have used a therapist for their child, ask for their recommendations. Make sure the therapist or agency has specific experience dealing with young people.
Help is available! Call North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center at (516) 626-1971 for more information.
Sources: www.nasponline.org
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | May 3, 2017 | In The Media
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
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jun 30, 2015 | Press Releases
On June 15, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center hosted the annual Jonathan Krevat Memorial Golf & Tennis Classic at The Creek in Locust Valley. The Event raised more than $230,000 to support the programs and services of the Guidance Center.
This year’s outstanding honorees were Steven Dubb of The Beechwood Organization and Michael Duffy of Duffy & Duffy PLLC. Jack Bransfield (Bethpage Federal Credit Union), Michael Mondiello (Joseph Gunnar & Co., LLC) and Michael Schnepper (Rivkin Radler LLP) co-chaired the event. Christopher Robbins of Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs served as the auctioneer.
Participants enjoyed a great day of golf and tennis followed by a steak & lobster dinner reception.
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is the pre-eminent not-for-profit children’s mental health agency on Long Island, leading the way in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, training, parent education, research and advocacy.
The Guidance Center is dedicated to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children (from birth – age 24) who are troubled, in trouble or causing trouble. Our highly qualified team of caring psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, mental health counselors, vocational rehabilitation counselors and family advocates work with children and their families to address issues such as depression and anxiety; developmental delays; school refusal; bullying; sexual abuse; teen pregnancy; and family crises stemming from illness, death, trauma and divorce. We offer outpatient mental health counseling and teen drug abuse and prevention services.
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, please visit www.northshorechildguidance.org or call 516 626 1971 ext. 320.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jun 24, 2015 | Press Releases
On June 10, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center hosted its 62ndt Annual Meeting at The Carltun at Eisenhower Park.
The following awards were presented: Distinguished Friends Award – Chris and Jack Bransfield; Media Award – Laura Figueroa; 25 Years of Distinguished Service – Joan Vitiello; Staff Awards – Cindy Ambrose and Brian Eck.
Nancy Lane was sworn in as the President of the Board of Directors for a two year term and Charles Chan of Harvest International was named as a member of the Board.
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is the pre-eminent not-for-profit children’s mental health agency on Long Island, leading the way in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, training, parent education, research and advocacy.
The Guidance Center is dedicated to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children (from birth – age 24) who are troubled, in trouble or causing trouble. Our highly qualified team of caring psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, mental health counselors, vocational rehabilitation counselors and family advocates work with children and their families to address issues such as depression and anxiety; developmental delays; school refusal; bullying; sexual abuse; teen pregnancy; and family crises stemming from illness, death, trauma and divorce. We offer outpatient mental health counseling and teen drug abuse and prevention services.
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.
To learn more about the Guidance Center, please visit www.northshorechildguidance.org or call (516) 626 1971, ext. 320.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jun 20, 2015 | Anton Media
By Andrew Malekoff
As parents, we naturally want to keep our children safe. But it’s important to remember that, while it’s a parent’s job to protect, it’s a child’s job to explore. But for mothers and fathers who came to the United States from countries in Central and South America that are rife with war, gang violence and poverty, allowing their children—and especially their daughters—to explore the world around them can be terrifying.
Regardless of their origins, it’s natural for all teens to want to be accepted by their peers and feel like they are part of American culture, but it’s understandable that the parents of first-generation Latinas are extremely overprotective. Many immigrated to America because they wanted their families to be safe, which results in a tendency to continually hover over their daughters. Many of them won’t let the girls participate in typical teen activities, such as sleepovers, dating or trips to the mall, which makes the girls feel trapped and isolated.
Even if the teens are allowed to go out with friends, they are required to have a chaperone, such as a parent or brother. In addition, they are often relegated to gender-biased roles, required to cook, clean and take care of their siblings, while their brothers are treated, as one girl said, “like princes.”
The result of these conflicts: An increasingly large number of teenage Latinas were coming to North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center with depression, self-harming behaviors and suicidal thoughts. Some had even attempted suicide.
Determined to help these girls and their families, Associate Executive Director Regina Barros-Rivera gathered a team of bilingual, multicultural counselors from the Guidance Center and created the Latina Girls Project, an innovative program that employs counseling, monthly outings and other activities designed to tackle issues such as hopelessness, poor self-esteem and school refusal (a disorder of a child who refuses to attend school or has problems staying in school).
Individual, group and family therapy are integral pieces of the program. Through therapy, the girls develop trust, learn healthy ways to deal with stress and depression and find better ways to communicate with their parents.
But the monthly outings are also a very important element of the Latina Girls Project. During one trip to Manhattan, the girls took part in a workshop led by female artists, dancers and poets, all accomplished and confident Latina women. This was a huge adventure for the teens, because they were so often stuck in their home communities—and also stuck in feelings of low self-esteem, shame and self-consciousness.
At first, the girls couldn’t say anything positive about themselves; they had no access to such self-affirming feelings. But they gradually spread their wings, bit by bit, and took part in art, dance and writing. The teens were uplifted by witnessing the confidence and compassion of these powerful role models, who told the girls to look in the mirror and see their own strength and beauty.
This workshop, along with other trips to historical sites, artistic venues and nature settings, help the girls shift from feelings of helplessness to hopefulness. Over time, they find their voices and discover the inner strengths that had eluded them.
By participating in family therapy and also witnessing the transformation their daughters experience, the girls’ parents become more compassionate and understand that they need to let their teens separate in healthy, age-appropriate ways. As one girl put it, “My parents learned that I just wanted them to be there for me and listen. They learned that it doesn’t help to question why I feel the way I do but to accept it and support me.”
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 ww.northshorechildguidance.org.
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