by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jan 11, 2022 | Blog
As we settle into the new year, a look back at 2021 brings up mixed emotions.
What a rollercoaster it was! The biggest news story remained the same as in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic. While the vaccine brought hopes for a return to more familiar times, the pandemic had other plans, and today, we are in the midst of a surge that brings with it more uncertainty.
Like all of us, kids and teens are emotionally drained from all the ups and downs, but they’ve faced upheaval at a crucial time in their development. The result: In the past 22 months, rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues among youth have skyrocketed, and our services have been needed more than ever before.
Despite the unprecedented challenges, the two words that jump to my mind when reflecting on 2021 are these: Gratitude and hope.
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is blessed to have an abundance of dedicated supporters like you who answered the call when we requested donations to support our life-saving work. Your generosity made all of us at the Guidance Center grateful.
And knowing we could count on you—and can continue to count on you—filled us with hope as we bring healing to families across Long Island who are struggling to find their way.
Here is just a small sample of what your donations have meant for the children and families of your community:
- We gave much-needed bereavement therapy and comfort to children as young as three years old who lost a parent or other loved one to the coronavirus.
- Through our Douglas S. Feldman Suicide Prevention Project, we treated young people at high risk for suicidal thinking through multiple weekly sessions of individual, group and family therapy, along with a culturally sensitive treatment plan focused on safety strategies, healthy coping skills and relapse prevention.
- As part of our Diane Goldberg Maternal Depression Program, we provided treatment and support for moms experiencing postpartum depression during a time when hospitals prohibited partners from being present at births, and other birth plans were being interrupted by COVID.
These successes are directly attributable to your care and concern for your community. Because of you, the entire staff at the Guidance Center enters 2022 feeling hopeful and deeply grateful.
Wishing you and yours good health,
Kathy Rivera
Executive Director/CEO, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Nov 22, 2021 | Blog
What fills you with an attitude of gratitude?
Kathy Rivera, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s Executive Director/CEO, shares what she is grateful for:
“We traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving by gathering with our loved ones, ushering in the warmth and cheer of the holiday season. This year continues to bring unique challenges as no one has been spared the impact of COVID-19. Therefore, giving thanks means so much more these days.
As the Guidance Center’s new Executive Director and CEO, I am grateful for the dedication and devotion from our donors, board members and staff. Our dedicated therapists and entire team continue to perform acrobatic feats to make the holiday bright for the vulnerable families, young people, each other and the communities we serve. My family and I are grateful to celebrate another Thanksgiving holiday with one another filled with hope and laughter. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
The Guidance Center staff is always grateful to hear from children and families that the services we provide have made a real difference in their lives. That’s especially true now, when the pandemic has created such challenging mental health issues for kids and adults alike. Here are a few comments that we’ve received from parents:
“I am writing this letter to let you know how much we have appreciated the help provided by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center during this very difficult time. Our son was a sixth grader and was settling in very nicely until the coronavirus struck. Our therapist has been very generous with her time and has helped us navigate our way with the added anxiety created by this virus. We feel lucky to have had her guidance. Thank you for providing such a great service, and stay well.” – Mom of Middle Schooler
“I wanted to take a moment to communicate how absolutely amazing the Pandemic Parent Support Group has been. What started out as a wonderful opportunity with parents of similar-age kids turned into such a magical bonding and loving environment. My isolation and anxiety were calmed, and it gave me strength during very challenging moments. I am forever grateful!” – Pandemic Parent
“North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center can be summed up in a few words: professional, warm, committed and dedicated. I had an absolutely wonderful experience with the staff, therapist and psychiatrist as they gently bring you into the Guidance Center and nurture you all the way to the end. I really appreciate that they welcome women in all stages of motherhood from prenatal to postpartum as I had so much need for assistance during these times. In particular, my therapist was an extremely great listener; she provided invaluable insight and always had practical tools that I could use day-to-day to help deal with stressors. I can’t say enough about how amazing my experience was at the Guidance Center! Thanks so much to you all for picking me back up and helping me to thrive again.” – Maternal Depression Program Client
While Thanksgiving provides a wonderful opportunity to speak with your children and teens about the importance of being grateful, cultivating a strong sense of appreciation is something that can add value to their lives year-round. For some tips, visit our blog by clicking here.
All of us at North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Sep 3, 2021 | Blog
With the continuing challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, more children and teens than ever before are experiencing heightened levels of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, which has been serving the community for nearly seven decades, is responding to the need – but to accommodate the increase, we are seeking dedicated, talented people to join our team, both in clinical roles and in office staff.
Kathy Rivera, who took on the role of Guidance Center Executive Director/CEO in June 2021 and has worked in the mental health field for more than two decades, says that the agency has “a stellar reputation” throughout the area.
“The Guidance Center is regarded as one of the premier children’s mental health organizations not only on Long Island but in the entire Tri-State/metro region,” says Rivera. “The agency is known for its highly experienced therapists who are specially trained to work with children, adolescents and their families, and also for its cutting-edge programs that have served as a model for programs across the nation.”
The Guidance Center puts values such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the forefront, both in its therapeutic model as well as its employee culture. The staff includes bilingual, bicultural therapists and outreach workers who serve the needs of the diverse Long Island community.
Specialty programs such as the Latina Girls Project, Wilderness Respite Program, Diane Goldberg Maternal Depression Program, Good Beginnings for Babies, C-GRASP (Caregiver Grandparent Respite and Support Program) and school-based Intensive Services Program (ISP) have earned the Guidance Center its reputation for innovation, making it a great place for mental health professionals to expand their skillset.
In addition, the organization offers extensive benefits, including health insurance, generous paid vacation time and more.
So, if you are seeking a career in a warm, welcoming environment that encourages employee growth, please contact Kiera Cohen, Director of Human Resources, at executiveoffice@northshorechildguidance.org, or view contact information for specific positions on our careers page.
Open Positions at the Guidance Center
Here is a sampling of current job openings, both for mental health professionals and general office staff.
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Substance Use Counselor
- Social Work Supervisor
- Clinical Social Worker
- Bilingual Social Worker of Mental Health Counselor
- Intake Coordinator
- Front Desk/Support Services Agent
- Youth Employment Counselor
- Social Media Intern
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Aug 13, 2021 | In The Media
Since 1953, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center has been the leading community-based not-for- profit specialty children’s mental health organization on Long Island. Their staff is specially trained in working with children and teens (from birth to age 24) and their families. The Guidance Center provides bilingual mental health and chemical dependency services, behavior management, parent education, maternal depression services, suicide prevention, medication management and psychological and psychiatric evaluations, as well as advocacy and care coordination services. They also provide a rapid and thorough response to emergencies through their triage, emergency and high-risk teams composed of their most experienced staff members. The Guidance Center brings hope and healing to the Long Island community and never turns anyone away for inability to pay.
Marissa Pullano, a partner in Jaspan Schlesinger’s’ matrimonial and family law practice group, has been a supporter of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center as a result of her practice in Nassau Family Court. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center ran a day-care center for children and families interacting with the Family Court System. Marissa and the Firm are happy to support North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center in their mission to support the mental health needs of our community’s children and teens and their families.
Pictured: Marissa Pullano, Jaspan Schlesinger LLP (left) Kathy Rivera, Executive Director (right)
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jul 6, 2021 | In The Media, Newsday
Kathy Rivera became the first woman of color to take the helm of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center when she assumed the executive director role last month at the Roslyn Heights-based nonprofit.
The organization provides mental health services for Nassau County’s children and young adults. Newsday recently spoke with Rivera, 47, of Fresh Meadows, about the pandemic’s impact on youth mental health and how her upbringing as a first-generation Asian American shaped her work.
Q. How did you get interested in the field of social work?
There has been a history of mental health issues in my immediate family. I have … witnessed domestic violence, food insecurity and housing instability. So from a very young age developmentally, I was exposed to that. So it was not surprising that as I got older, in recognizing what my own needs were growing up and experiencing all of this, I knew I wanted to find a profession where I could help communities that struggled with issues that I struggled myself with.
Q. How did your upbringing as a Thai American with immigrant parents shape your understanding of what you do?
In the Asian culture in general, mental health is often frowned upon. … What I experienced going back to my childhood [shaped] what I recognize [in] a lot of our communities that we serve. Parents sometimes don’t seek help because they fear it is a reflection of them as being a bad parent. It can feel embarrassing to ask for help, and so they don’t. . . . So [it’s] realizing that how not getting the right … help at the right time can really cause lifelong damaging changes and fracture a family.
Q. Has your organization seen a rise in cases during the pandemic?
We have gotten more calls for our triage unit from local hospitals and urgent-care centers where children are at risk of an inpatient hospitalization. … We’ve been finding more and more calls coming in and actually even for some younger kids. At one of our sites, we even are treating a 4-year-old [for mental health]. … We’ve definitely been getting calls from parents as well, really worrying about the social impact of the pandemic, the isolation, just the overall mental well-being of their own child and asking for their child to engage in therapy. So we’ve been seeing it from families, too, more so than in the past.
Q. How do people go about getting services from your organization?
Anyone who needs our services can just be a phone call away. … Our payer mix is a combination between self-pay, commercial insurance to Medicaid. And for those who have a struggle where the service may not be covered but yet they need it, we find a way to raise funds and cover those costs.
Q. Anything else you want to add?
One thing that I want to give the pandemic credit for is the exposure of the mental health crisis in our children. Again, it did not cause it, it exposed it, and it enhanced it. And I think that it helps naturalize it — being able to talk about it without the stigma.
Please click to watch the video
North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center
- The nonprofit was founded in 1953 and served 2,590 clients (from birth to age 24) in 2020.
- Rivera said her organization has seen a roughly 45% increase in intakes from pre-pandemic times to now.
- The agency serves Nassau County but at times accepts residents in Queens, Brooklyn and Suffolk counties through its maternal depression program, Rivera said.
By Dandan Zoudandan.zou@newsday.com
