At North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, our staff includes some amazing social workers who give their all to help children and teens who are suffering from a host of mental health challenges. Their goal is to move them from hurting to healing.
That mission is a heartfelt one for Elissa Smilowitz, a senior staff member who started at the Guidance Center in 2001. Her first role was as a psychiatric social worker at our middle school Intensive Support Program (ISP), one of the three Nassau B.O.C.E.S. schools where we provide extensive mental health services to students having difficulties succeeding in a typical school environment.
“In the ISP, the children and teens have a significant history of psychiatric and behavioral difficulties,” says Smilowitz. “A lot of the work involves educating parents regarding the needs of their children and validating the struggles they have trying to work with their home school districts to get the accommodations their kids require.”
Smilowitz flourished in that role, and in her sixth year was asked to become the coordinator of the Guidance Center’s high school ISP at Nassau B.O.C.E.S. in Wantagh. “All three of the Guidance Center’s ISP programs take a wrap-around approach, working with the family, the school, psychiatrists and case management services to help these children and teens succeed,” she says. “It really does take a village.”
She adds, “We strongly encourage the parents that the goal of ISP is to have their children become independent. Parents and kids feel very supported by this program, and that’s very rare.”
For all kids, no matter their age, she adds, the most important thing is to focus on making them feel accepted and loved for who they are. “So many of them have been labeled as ‘problems’ for so long that they view themselves through that negative lens,” she says. “In ISP, we work with them, along with their families, so they stop identifying themselves by their challenges and instead feel proud of their strengths. They learn the academic and emotional skills needed to go to college or thrive on whatever path they choose.”
After a total of 11 years with the ISP, Smilowitz began working at our main headquarters as the Coordinator of Triage and Emergency Services. In this critical role, she heads up a team that responds rapidly to help children who are in need of immediate, intensive outpatient care due to their at-risk behaviors.
“Many of the adolescents in this program are in danger of suicide and self-harm, and they have a significant decline in their everyday functioning,” she says. “The goals of the program are to encourage them to learn healthy coping skills, stabilize their mood and decrease the need for emergency room visits or in-patient hospitalizations. It’s a team approach of outpatient services that you don’t get anywhere else.”
A Mother’s Passion
Smilowitz didn’t start her career planning to be a social worker. For 30 years, she worked with her husband in the hardware business that they owned. But even during that time, as a young mother the seeds of her future career took hold.
“When my kids were younger, they had learning disabilities,” Smilowitz says. “Even though my son aced his tests, homework was difficult for him.”
Her son was found to have a motor skills disability, which impacted his academic ability—and his self-esteem. “Back then everything was writing, not typing on a keyboard,” she says. “Once his issues were clear, he got accommodations that helped him move from failing to getting ‘A’s in school.”
The problem was rooted in genetic issues, she explains, and her other son and daughter had similar issues. She learned how to advocate for their needs—and she took that knowledge and began volunteering to attend special education meetings with other parents who were new to the process.
“I wanted all kids to get the help they needed to feel better about themselves,” she says. “Parents don’t always know what kind of services their children are entitled to, and I felt it was my calling to help other parents understand the system.”
Once her son went to college, Smilowitz decided to go back to school to get her Masters in social work—and that decision has not only given her a career that she loves, but given many children and families the kind of support that can change lives.
The mission of the Guidance Center is one that Smilowitz embraces. “Working in such a holistic way is very aligned with my beliefs and my desire to help children and families improve their lives and destinies. I’m so proud of the work of the Guidance Center.”
