Team Stories

National Social Work Month: Q&A with Gerda Gonzalez, LMSW, School-Based Clinical Coordinator

Gerda Gonzalez, a social worker at the school-based mental health center at Pam American International High School, presents at a CIOB event on self-harm.
Gerda Gonzalez, a social worker at the school-based mental health center at Pam American International High School, presents at a CIOB event on self-harm.

Gerda presenting at the Consortium, Internationals, and NYC Outward Bound (CIOB) Schools counseling meeting last month.

The road Gerda Gonzalez, LMSW, took professionally to become a social worker was not a straight path, but today, she’s confident it led her to the right destination.

Gerda serves as school-based clinical coordinator at Pan American International High School in Elmhurst, Queens. She manages the school’s mental health wellness center and also sees clients in therapy.

The Child Center of NY provides school-based mental health (SBMH) services at 11 NYC public schools. In-school counseling programs overcome common barriers to mental health treatment by offering services to young people in the convenient space of their schools. The Child Center’s SBMH programs operate on three levels: mental health educational services to the entire school community, selective services with children who might be at risk, and targeted services in the form of therapy.

Pan American International High School is home to students who have immigrated to the United States within the past four years. As a first-generation American who lived outside the U.S. for part of her childhood, Gerda understands the challenges and traumas young people face when they arrive in a new country with an unfamiliar culture and language. In honor of Social Work Month, we asked Gerda about the role social work plays in easing the transition for these young immigrants so they can develop positive coping strategies and flourish.

The Child Center of NY: You told us you never intended to become a social worker. How did that happen?

 Gerda Gonzalez, LMSW: Both of my parents are immigrants. My mother is from Bolivia, and my father is from Spain. Spanish was the only language spoken in my home growing up. I started first grade here in the U.S., but I grew up for some years in Spain and returned to the U.S. when I was in 10th grade. When it was time to choose a career path, I knew I wanted to help kids that age, so I became an English teacher. I taught ninth and 10th grade English for two years. I realized I didn’t like the teaching aspect as much as I liked interacting with students and supporting them with their emotional needs. A lot of them would come to me and tell me what they were going through, and I didn’t have the skills to support them. That’s when I realized what I wanted to do: become a social worker.

What led you to The Child Center?

I got an internship with Yessenia Rodriguez at The Child Center’s old Elmhurst Clinic. This was in March 2020—right at the beginning of the [COVID-19] pandemic! But mental health services are considered essential, so the work of the clinic never stopped. I worked with families with children ages 0-5. We did a lot of work around providing guidance to parents so they could develop their parenting skills and best support their kids. When I completed the internship, Yessenia was like, I don’t want The Child Center to lose you! She was transitioning to the perinatal program. Since it was new, there weren’t any positions available, but Yessenia alerted me to openings elsewhere at The Child Center. Due to my background as a teacher and first-generation American, I applied for a school-based mental health position at Pan American. That was in January 2021, and I’ve been here ever since!

What kind of mental health issues are you seeing at your school?

The population I work with is mostly students who have been in the U.S. for less than 4 years. I can kind of put myself in their position. Coming to a new country in the middle of high school is a big transition. There is definitely immigration trauma. Students often come from really difficult circumstances, left family behind who they really loved, and are in a completely new environment. All of those pieces create a cluster of trauma. Here, there is an individualistic approach that is unfamiliar to people from Central and South America, where the culture is more about the group, everyone working together, supporting each other. Here it’s more about doing things on your own and what you can accomplish individually. For example, in the countries they come from, you get eggs from your aunt, milk from a neighbor … everyone helps each other out. When families come here, they have to get used to everything being more separate.

Of course, there is also the language issue. All students at Pan American speak Spanish and learn English as they go through high school. I provide therapy in both languages. In therapy, you want to be comfortable, you don’t want language to be a barrier, so usually sessions are in Spanish. But by 12th grade, some students choose to have sessions in English.

Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of self-harm. During the pandemic, and now from the effects of the pandemic, there has been a lot of depression and risk of suicide. With time, I’m seeing more anxiety and self-harm. Students often don’t know how to manage their emotions. Self-harm is their coping strategy. It’s easier to think about negative coping strategies than positive ones. It’s quicker, you immediately feel relief, and so you end up resorting to that instead of trying positive methods, which they may not be aware of since they are not as popular in the media and other aspects of their life.

What are some positive coping strategies you help students develop?

Deep breathing exercises, art as a medium, going for a walk, exercising, creating positive self-talk … even writing on a sticker, “You’ve got this today!” can help shape your day and manage your emotions. Journaling is another great strategy. When students feel overwhelmed, I help them create a list—seeing it in writing makes it easier for them to understand how to shape their day—and understand time management.

You recently presented on self-harm at the Consortium, Internationals, and Outward Bound (CIOB) Schools counseling support meeting. Please tell us about it!

The meeting was for social workers and counselors to discuss building a culture of prevention and how to support students who are self-harming. I do presentations here at Pan American—it’s part of the work I do here as lead clinical coordinator. So when Tania Romero, supervisor of social workers at CIOB schools, needed speakers for the event, my colleague Karla Pina, a social worker on the school guidance team, said, “I thought of you immediately!” I said yes because I see so much of it [self-harm].

I think it went well. I was able to present to school social workers and guidance team members from more than 15 different schools in the NYC area, so that was very exciting. It was a great opportunity to talk about self-harm; there are a lot of myths and misunderstandings around it. For example, there is a myth that students who self-harm are suicidal, but that’s not always the case. Many don’t want to die; they are self-harming so as not to get to that point. They are more at risk to consider suicide, but they still have hope, which is important to highlight, and to work from.

Can you talk about a particularly memorable or rewarding experience as a social worker?

Of course, there’s Breinny! There is also a student I started working with when he was in 10th grade. He was from Colombia, from a town full of gang violence. When he came here, he had a survival mentality because of what he faced in his home country. His anxiety was very bad; he struggled to sit still and experienced panic attacks. He didn’t care about his classes or studying; he wanted to leave school and start working so he could help his grandma, still in Colombia, financially.

We worked together until he graduated last year. He learned to manage his anxiety very well—I say “manage” because anxiety never goes away, you just learn how to manage it—so that it no longer affected his day-to-day activities. He also started realizing goals he had for himself. He realized he loved photography. I encouraged him to think about what it would look like if he studied, the possibilities that could give him for the future. That helped him with the motivation piece. He was very bright, but he didn’t know how to use his intelligence in a way that benefited him. I connected him to resources at school—one of the wonderful things about Pan American is all the resources to support students!—to help him with his classes. He put in the effort and got his grades up. I encouraged him to apply to college. One of the schools he was interested in was FIT [Fashion Institute of Technology], for fashion photography. It seemed like a great fit. He got in, and he’s at FIT right now!

That is wonderful! It really speaks to the rewards of social work. As we all know, there are also challenges. What are some of the challenges you have experienced as a social worker?

For me, one of the biggest challenges is wanting to be able to do more and just not being able to, due to time constraints and limited availability. We have a waitlist for students, and it weighs on me. I would love to be able to service them all, but I know that I cannot take on more clients with my current caseload. As a whole, I believe that some of the struggles of being a social worker, in general, center around wanting more resources for your clients than what is available.

Are you glad you became a social worker?

Yes, I’m very glad! Through the work I am doing—even if it is on a micro level—I am making a difference for my clients and their families. As the daughter of immigrants, being able to work with adolescents who recently arrived in the country fills me with purpose and hope that we all are continuing to work toward creating a healthier environment for everyone in New York City. Aside from this, the time I have spent being a social worker also has helped me to reflect on myself and my own identity in a way that I might not have been able to do otherwise—especially as a first generation American.

RTF Clinical Coordinator Youngkwang Moon on Gender-Affirming Care and the Role of Social Workers

 

Clinical Coordinator Young Moon with a client of The Child Center Residential Treatment Facility

Earlier this summer, we shared with you sobering statistics regarding LGBTQ+ youth in America—and how critical it is that we support them, now more than ever. Clinical Coordinator Youngkwang (Young) Moon and the team at The Child Center Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) in Brooklyn are on the frontlines in this critical endeavor.

The RTF serves young people ages 12-18 who have had multiple psychiatric hospital placements or have been involved with the juvenile justice system. It is the only facility of its kind in the region. We care for youth people have given up on multiple times. They often struggle with significant mental health challenges, trauma, and social determinants of health. Yet they are as full of promise as any young person, as you can see by the personal stories of former residents like Danny and Nyomi.

They also are overwhelmingly LGBTQ+. According to Young, 75 percent of the youth at the RTF identify as LGBTQ+. Sadly, they often lack the support that most young people can take for granted.

But when they come here, they find a support system waiting for them. In the Q&A below, Young describes in eloquent and moving terms what that means for the youth here, and why he believes social workers play a pivotal role in moving society toward a truly inclusive and caring society. Young will be leaving The Child Center at the end of this month, and we are deeply grateful to him for strengthening the RTF in ways that will benefit our youth now and in the future.

The Child Center of NY: You are clearly very passionate about social work. What inspired you to become a social worker?

 Young Moon, LMSW: Growing up, I loved the idea of helping people and providing a big impact for the community. People around me talked about joining the medical field as a way to do that. But I had an interest in the community as a whole, society as a whole. Going to school, learning more about social problems, I felt that social worker is a unique role, really addressing those issues and making an impact socially. Social workers support individuals and the community so that overall, as a society, we can improve. I really like that aspect. A lot of issues are not possible to address with medical care alone. We can medicate everyone only so much, but that’s not going to give youth the skills and tools they need to do well in the community. That’s what we need to do instead of always going to hospitals and having psychiatric stays.

As I worked in the field, I saw how important social work is for everyone. Social workers are in a unique position to have a big impact on our society as a whole. I identify with how social workers think, and I felt like I could do my part for the world as a social worker more than anything else.

Can you describe what it means to be clinical coordinator at the RTF?

The way I like to break it down is in three ways. First, the individual aspect; I work directly with clients and their families, providing therapy. The second portion is what we call mezza level: case management, connecting clients with government agencies and services in the community, and generally making sure everyone is working together to support the kids. The third level is using my social worker lens to ensure the facility is operating well therapeutically, and our team has the tools to really support our youth here.

Speaking of the team at the RTF, you speak very highly of the medical team. It seems like they have used every tool at their disposal, including their innovation and passion, to support LGBTQ+ youth in meaningful ways. Can you tell us more about that?

The medical team, led by Hannah Rush [Director of RTF Medical Services], really pushed for gender-affirming care. They saw the need for it and made it happen. One very significant thing they did was establish a partnership with Callen-Lorde, a medical provider that specializes in LGBTQ medical care and information. Callen-Lorde brings their medical van to the RTF monthly and answers our LGBTQ clients’ questions, including questions regarding hormonal therapy so they can get some education on it. I had one client who wanted to get hormonal therapy, and we didn’t have the structure for that at the time. But we are building the processes and structure so any youth in the future can get gender-affirming care, which includes affirming their gender identity, using their appropriate pronouns and preferred names, providing items that can be affirming such as chest binders, and referring clients to support systems and groups upon discharge. The medical team is doing a great job spearheading those processes for the kids. It is inspiring that they saw the need and really made a difference.

Why is it so important to offer LGBTQ+ youth this kind of care?

It can be very closely tied to their self-esteem. They experience parents, friends, other people who are supposed to be in their corner, denying who they feel they are. That really takes a toll on their mental health. They struggle with that. These kids deserve a safe space to feel like there are people who see who they are as a person. Even though we’re not their family, we care for them. It’s important they have that support, a place on their mental health journey where they can feel comfortable speaking about who they are as a person and where we provide as much support as we can so they can thrive and improve their mental health.

What has been the most rewarding part of your work at the RTF?

There is a lot that affected me. Seeing a kid who met their treatment goal and went into the community successfully. When I follow up, and they’re doing well, managed to go to school … hearing the struggles as well, but they’re really trying hard to make it work. I’ll hear from parents how their child has improved, that they’re excited to have them back home.

Even when I have cases where things don’t go the way we wanted them to—even in the hard moments—we know we did everything we can, and we hope eventually they will get there, and they know they can count on us for support. The way I see it, these kids don’t have a lot of people rooting for them. That they are able to form some connections here, and to know that people are rooting for them, even when they’re still figuring things out. … It’s one of those moments when you’re like, this is exactly why I entered the field. The youth here don’t have a lot. To be a part of giving second chances so they may be able to turn their lives around is really something. Society doesn’t give a lot of second chances. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for growth. We give them a place where they can really get that second chance in life and grow to be what they want to be–and know they can be.

Team Spotlight: Abraham Santana, MSW, on Creating a Safe Space for LGBTQ+ Youth

Child Center of NY Social Worker Abraham Santana works with LGBTQ+ youth at the Cohen Family Wellness Center in Woodside, Queens

Abraham, a social worker at The Child Center of NY

The Child Center began in 1953 as a single children’s counseling center, based on ideas that were ahead of their time: that children could need mental health services; that serving whole families is a critical component of serving children; and that serving the larger community is at the crux of it all. Seventy years later, we remain as committed as ever to serving the communities—geographic and social—that need us.

Right now, the LGBTQ+ community needs us. Continue reading

Social Work Month 2023: Why I Am a Social Worker

By Anita Sanehi, LCSW
School-Based Clinical Coordinator

School-based Clinical Coordinator Anita Sanehi (right) with her client Kayla

As an eager teenager majoring in sociology and psychology, I began working as a youth counselor at the afterschool program in J.H.S 185.

Every stage of life has its own importance, and even though I was still a young adult, I believed in the powerful impact of childhood. Schools have a great opportunity to be a safe haven and steady support for many students. Sometimes students spend more time at school than with their families. Continue reading

Team Spotlight: Q&A with Linet Peña, Assistant Program Director, Flushing YABC

Linet Pena, LTW coordinator at Flushing YABC (Young Adult Borough Center)

Linet Pena, LTW coordinator at Flushing YABC (Young Adult Borough Center)Linet Peña’s official title is Assistant Program Director/Learning to Work (LTW) Coordinator. But that doesn’t even begin to convey the enormity of Linet’s undertakings, the intensity of her responsibilities, and the impact she makes, every single day.

Linet is what’s known as a primary contact at a transfer high school, Flushing Young Adult Borough Center (YABC), a school for over-age and under-credited students who are at risk of dropping out or previously had done so. A primary contact is a caring and qualified individual whom students can count on for guidance and support.

We say at The Child Center that it’s never too early or too late to change the trajectory of a life. That saying is true only because of people like Linet. Read this Q&A with Linet to find out how she does it and why. Continue reading

National Intern Day: Q&A with Sandra Ka, MSW

National Intern Day is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the instrumental role interns play in keeping our society running and progressing. Here at The Child Center of NY, interns are crucial to advancing our mission to strengthen families.   

 Anderson Sungmin Yoon, Vice President, Integrated and Value-Based Care, oversees our internship program.Our internship program now resides within the Training Institute in our newest division, Research, Development, Innovation, and Training. We are proud to have created relationships and affiliations with more than 30 universities and graduate schools, including Columbia University, NYU, Nyack College, Hunter College, York College, Stony Brook University, Hofstra University, and others. The program places nearly 40 interns annually, matching them with positions that align with their goals and training them to learn and grow as the future generation of professionals.  Continue reading

Child Center VP Publishes Book on Korean American Mental Health

Understanding Korean Americans' Mental Health

Understanding Korean Americans' Mental HealthAnderson Sungmin Yoon, DSW, LCSW-R, CASAC, RPT-S, ACT, The Child Center of NY’s Vice President of Integrated and Value-Based Care, is a co-editor and contributor of a newly published book, Understanding Korean Americans’ Mental Health: A Guide to Culturally Competent Practices, Program Developments, and Policies, that is being hailed as much-needed, timely, and comprehensive. Continue reading


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