By guest blogger Sydney Spilko “Non-Binary.” “Transgender.” “Gender non-conforming.” If you’re a parent, and you’ve heard these terms before, you may be confused about what they mean. As a larger understanding of gender among young people has increased over the past few years, topics, terms and ideas have emerged, and you can be sure that your kids are talking about it. In next week’s blog, we will be talking about sexuality; that is, the...
The summer season is upon us, with BBQs, beaches and fun events of all kinds in full swing. Whether your children are spending time in the water, playing sports, or on the playground, their wellbeing is always at the top of your list! Water safety is especially important for infants, including time spent in pools or in open water such as oceans and lakes. According to the Centers for Disease Control...
Audrey Shine has excelled during her time at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, but she has also done great work away from school. One of the best examples of this is the valedictorian’s work at the nonprofit Children’s Center at Nassau County Family Court in Westbury, which has been run by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center for about a decade. “Over the summer, I got a phone call from a...
When Emily (not her real name) first came to North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, she was experiencing anxiety and depression that was largely caused by her fear of coming out to her family. Her fears weren’t unfounded. “Her parents were very disapproving and would not accept their daughter’s bisexuality,” explains Elissa Smilowitz, LCSWR and Coordinator of Triage & Emergency Services at the Guidance Center. “It was devastating to Emily,...
Krevat Cup winner Troy Slade with Guidance Center staff and supporters North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center once again hosted a joyful fundraising event filled with golf, tennis and an extraordinary dinner program at their 23rd annual Jonathan Krevat Memorial Golf & Tennis Classic. The event, which was held on June 3 at the beautiful North Hempstead Country Club in Port Washington, raised $140,000 to support the Guidance Center’s work to...
Just the other day I was reminded that May marks the anniversary of one of the saddest trending tweets in Twitter history. The reminder was a photo posted on Instagram of a girl holding a cardboard sign. The girl looked to be 13 or 14 years old. The sign read: If I die in a school shooting, leave my body on the steps of Congress. #IfIDieInASchoolShooting was first tweeted a year...
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The World Health Organization will list video gaming as a behavioral addiction for the first time. An official vote by the World Health Organization was made for the latest edition of its International Classification of Diseases, or ICD, to include an entry on "gaming disorder" as a behavioral addiction. According to WHO, in roder for gaming disorder to be diagnosed, "the behavior pattern must be of sufficient severity to result...
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Popular, controversial, and now – according to the World Health Organization – video games have just been recognized as a behavioral addiction. According to Pew research, 97 percent of teen boys and 83 percent of girls play games on some kind of device. Now, videogaming is an internationally recognized addiction, according to the WHO. Andrew Malekoff of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center told CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan the International Classification of Diseases now includes an...
Does spending time outdoors as a child improve mental health as an adult? According to a new European study published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research, exposure to nature—or what the researcher calls NOEs, for natural outdoor environments—does, indeed, lead to better mental health for youngsters as they grow into their adult years. The study found that, “Compared to high levels of childhood NOE exposure, low levels of childhood NOE...
For many generations, popular music has played a significant role in the lives of young people. Although it seems quaint now, the uproar over Elvis and his gyrating pelvis or the Beatles and their long hair was a real source of contention among the youth of the 1960s and their parents. But in that same generation, music played a central role in important events like the anti-war movement and the...