Team Stories

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

Statement by The Child Center of NY on the Passing of Ocean Bay Cornerstone Community Center Director Deborah Hoyle, Ph.D.

We have suffered a tremendous loss in the passing of Deborah Hoyle, Ph.D., Director of our Ocean Bay Cornerstone Community Center in the Rockaways. Deborah Hoyle held the heart of the community in everything she did for and with The Child Center. Her consistent and caring commitment to the staff and the children of the Rockaways reflected the Child Center mission to see the cycles of access and equity realized in every program and every child we were fortunate enough to serve. She had a beautiful habit of saying “thank you” to the people we served — thanking them for coming and providing us the opportunity to serve them. That is how she saw things.

Continue reading

Social Work Month 2021: Social Workers Are Always Essential

Chrissie Chua, SBMH

By Traci Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer

Chrissie Chua, Long Island City school-based mental health

Lead Clinical Coordinator Chrissie Chua conducts tele-therapy sessions with her clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Governor’s office deemed The Child Center staff essential. That is in no small part because of our social workers and other service providers and support staff. They are essential to their clients, and to our community at large, and I can think of no better theme for Social Work Month 2021 than this year’s theme: Social Workers Are Essential. Continue reading

Thank You for Your Service, Deep!

Deep Ghosh

Tribute to the longstanding service of Deepmalya Ghosh

Twenty-two years ago, when The Child Center of NY was still called the Queens Child Guidance Center (QCGC) and focused solely on mental health counseling, then-QCGC Clinical Social Worker Deep Ghosh presented at a conference on childhood trauma. Someone there mentioned Beacon centers.

At the time, “I didn’t know what they were talking about,” Ghosh recalls. “But I learned Beacons are all-purpose centers open to the community for recreation, arts, afterschool — all different things — for all ages. And I thought, I hope we get one.” Continue reading


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