STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New support meetings for families of children and teens with mental health conditions — or those who are simply struggling with day-to-day activities — will begin on the South Shore in December.
The meetings will be run by the Staten Island affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI NYC-Staten Island) with the support of Lou’s Helping Hand, a not-for-profit foundation formed in 2017 to give Staten Island’s youth social alternatives to drugs and alcohol.
The family support-style meetings, which will be held twice a week in Annadale beginning in December, are open to anyone who has noticed their child struggling, said Lyn Ferrante, executive director of the Staten Island affiliate of NAMI.
“It’s all about families helping each other,’’ Ferrante said. “It could be mental illness. It could be a child just struggling, but not diagnosed yet.’’
Juliana Palazzolo-Pellicane, the founder of Lou’s Helping Hand in Annadale, said she and Ferrante began talking at a recent community meeting and decided the South Shore foundation could work with NAMI. Palazzolo-Pellicane lost her brother to addiction and created Lou’s Helping Hand to assist the community in his memory.
“It was an attempt to hopefully raise enough money to keep a community center up and running to get the kids off the street and into a place where they would be occupying their time instead of being bored and turning to drugs, alcohol, or speeding around like lunatics racing cars,’’ she told the Advance/SILive.com.
A GOOD OPTION FOR FAMILIES
Ferrante said the NAMI meetings are a good option for parents, and a better choice than discussing their child’s behavior with friends or family, who most likely are not experienced or educated about mental health issues.
“Let’s say the kid does not want to go to school or leave the house, the socialization is starting to slow down, or their grades are now starting to slip,” Ferrante said. “(Parents)…
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