Author Archives: Renee Riebling

Daniela’s Story

Daniela, a school-based mental health client at The Child Center of NY, with her therapist, Sarah Rashid 
Listen to the audio of the Q&A between Daniela and her therapist, Sarah Rashid, LMSW


Daniela is an 11th-grade student who goes to therapy at a Child Center wellness center in her school during lunchtime.

As a young child, Daniela experienced severe trauma. Returning to in-person school after remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic was a struggle because her extreme anxiety and ongoing hypervigilance—due to PTSD—prevented her from focusing in class. Thankfully, since mental health education for the entire school community—including teachers—is a core part of The Child Center’s school-based mental health work, one of Daniela’s teachers noticed she seemed overwhelmed and brought Daniela to our on-site wellness center.

Please tap on the photo above to hear Daniela speak in her own words about her experience in therapy at her school’s wellness center.

November Photo of the Month: Cash+Community Works

Corona Cohort A, the Empresarias Soñadoras, of Cash+Community Works

Corona Cohort A, the Empresarias Soñadoras, of Cash+Community WorksMeet the Empresarias Soñadoras, also known as the Corona A cohort of The Child Center of NY’s groundbreaking Cash+Community Works initiative.

Meaning “dreaming entrepreneurs,” the name Empresarias Soñadoras embodies the spirit of Cash+Community Works, a movement grounded in the concept of peer-driven change and defined by direct investment in under-resourced families, trusting them with power, and connecting them with peers in an effort to uplift whole communities. Continue reading

Photo of the Month: Head Start Awareness Month

October is Head Start Awareness Month, a special time to highlight the crucial role of Head Start and Early Head Start in supporting the cognitive, social, and emotional development of young children, ages 0-5, from low-income families.

Pictured here is 3-year-old Omar, who attends our Escalera Head Start program, and his mom, Evelys, during the first of many of the program’s family events. Continue reading

Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

clients at residential treatment facility in brooklyn

Clients at The Child Center Residential Treatment Facility, one of many Child Center programs that serve adolescents with mental health needs

The changing face of challenge in American adolescence—and how to meet it

By Jennifer Blitzer, LCSW-R
Program Director, Woodside Youth Intensive Outpatient Program

American adolescence is changing. Three decades ago, the biggest public health threats to teenagers came from binge drinking, drunk driving, teenage pregnancy, and smoking. All have fallen sharply in the United States. In their place are soaring rates of mental illness. Continue reading

The Magic of JobNet

The JobNet team
The JobNet team

Members of the JobNet team, from left to right: Youth Advocate Jessica Rivera; GED Instructor Keianna Noble; Transitional Facilitator Samantha Gabriel; and Program Director Paulette Diggs-Beji

Meet JobNet clients Beethoven and Lidianny, who stand as testament that a mental health condition is no barrier to achieving dreams

Continue reading

Supporter Spotlight: Soles4Souls

“New shoes!” was the rallying cry

Girl tries on Converse shoes at Soles4Souls event at Head Start CoronaIt was an 80-degree summer day, but Tanya Krien was researching organizations that provide winter coats to children.

“Winter coats are always a huge need with our families,” Tanya, a vice president of early childhood education at The Child Center of NY, explains.

That’s when she came across Soles4Souls—a nonprofit organization that provides not winter coats, but footwear, which is another ever-present need for families with children in a Child Center early childhood education program, such as Head Start and Early Head Start. Continue reading

Expanding Perinatal Mental Health

Terry Gomez, Ph.D. at the Women's Pavilion at Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst
Terry Gomez, Ph.D. at the Women's Pavilion at Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst

Perinatal Infant Mental Health Consultant Terry Gomez, Ph.D., delivering her presentation at Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s “baby shower”

Congresswomen Meng and Ocasio-Cortez support new services at Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a Child Center partner.

Terry Gomez, Ph.D., has attended her fair share of baby showers, but the one she attended last month was a first: One of the gifts was a check for 3.8 million dollars.

The gift givers were U.S. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Grace Meng, and the recipients are the many pregnant and new moms receiving care at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s Women’s Pavilion.

Continue reading


Recent Blog Posts

Translate »