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Contact: Gail Donovan
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BROOKLYN PSYCHIATRIC CENTERS RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING GRADUATES AND SUPPORTERS OF ROSE GELORMINO S.T.A.R. PROGRAM

BROOKLYN, NY—June 16, 2005—Supporters of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers’ Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program came together recently to honor two longtime supporters of mental health services in Brooklyn and two outstanding graduates of the school-based counseling program. The June 15 reception at Brooklyn Borough Hall was hosted by the children and grandchildren of Rose Gelormino.

Receiving Honorary Stars were Joan Bartolomeo, who has served as chair of the Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers board of trustees for more 10 years and is president of Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, and Judge Matthew D’Emic, who presides over Brooklyn’s Mental Health Court. In addition, Future Star Awards were presented to two teenagers who received counseling services from the S.T.A.R. Program—Jonathan Rafferty, 19, and Arelis De La Paz, 18.

Deputy Borough President for Brooklyn Yvonne Graham introduced Ms. Bartolomeo, who reflected on her life growing up in Brooklyn in an extended family full of love, security, and good memories, and pointed out that many of the kids who enter the S.T.A.R. Program may not share similar happy memories.

“Childhood now seems fraught with many dangers, so many bad options, that just getting through seems an accomplishment unto itself,” Ms. Bartolomeo said. “But life should be about more than surviving—it should be about thriving. Doesn’t every kid, like me, deserve the right to happy memories? The S.T.A.R. Program recognizes that it all starts with the kids. Doing nothing and waiting to intervene when they grow into unhappy, angry adults is such a backwards way to do things. Yet programs like S.T.A.R., prevention programs, are always the first ones cut when budgets get tight.”

Dr. Pamela Straker, president and CEO of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, introduced Judge D’Emic by describing how he shared the same characteristics as Judge Robert J. Wilkin, who founded Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers in 1907.

Judge D’Emic said a Department of Justice survey found that 16 percent of the individuals in state prisons suffer from mental illness. The goal of the Brooklyn Mental Health Court is to provide a proper evaluation, treatment plan, and monitoring schedule, for individuals, including juveniles, who need mental health services instead of simply throwing them into prison. In three years, 62 individuals have graduated from the program, 109 are in treatment, and 20 are waiting to appear before the judge.

“Everyone in this room knows a family afflicted by physical illness and everyone knows a family afflicted with mental illness,” Judge D’Emic said. “Too often we face it with fear. But society recognizes that there is a better way to deal with mental illness and the courts are working to do that.”

Mr. Rafferty was introduced by Roger Rosenthal, the S.T.A.R. Program therapist he began meeting with while a student at MS 51. Mr. Rafferty said Mr. Rosenthal served as a male role model, which was important to him because he was being raised by a single mother, helped him understand how to control his temper, and taught him how to communicate with his mother, who was battling cancer. Mr. Rafferty’s mother died last fall, but he said he is grateful to Mr. Rosenthal and the S.T.A.R. Program for helping him develop a solid, positive relationship with her during their final years together.

“It made me a more social person,” said Mr. Rafferty, who graduated from Midwood High School last year and is now attending City College. “I learned to control my emotions. I had someone to talk to. He was more like a friend than anything. I also gained a better understanding of myself.” 

Ms. De La Paz joined the S.T.A.R. Program in elementary school and had one-on-one sessions with therapist Howard Gordon for three years while attending MS 293.

“It’s very relaxing when you don’t have things balled up in your head,” said Ms. De La Paz, who graduated from Metropolitan Corporate Academy in January and plans to attend New York City Technical College and to become a radiology/ultrasound technician. “We talked about the issues of adolescence. It helped me express my feelings to teachers when I didn’t understand things. It helped me grow.”

Josee Groleau, S.T.A.R. Program administrator, said that the S.T.A.R. Program provides school-based mental health services —psychotherapy and group therapy—in elementary and middle schools in Region 8, formerly District 15. The goal is to address the problem where it starts and where it is exhibited and to serve students who don’t have access to other counseling services. She pointed out such work is important because studies show that 10 percent of children and adolescents suffer from some form of mental illness, and that there is a relationship between untreated mental illness and incarceration.

Ms. Groleau said that due to budget constraints, the S.T.A.R. Program has had to close programs in two out of seven schools in the last two years, and thanked the Gelormino family for its dedication, support, and generosity, which has enabled the program to continue and thrive.

Created by Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers in 1985, the Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program provides counseling services to school children experiencing emotional difficulties that are affecting their learning abilities and/or behavior, while maintaining the children in regular educational classes. The staff consists of psychiatric social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists who believe that counseling services that are initiated promptly may prevent future problems from becoming more serious. These counseling services include individual, family, or group treatment as well as crisis intervention.

Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, which was founded in 1907, provides borough-wide mental health services to Brooklyn’s most vulnerable residents through its clinics in Bushwick, Canarsie, Flastbush-Sheepshead Bay, Williamsburg-Greenpoint, and downtown Brooklyn and the borough’s public schools. Its diverse staff of more than 100 professionals makes more than 60,000 visits annually to adults, seniors, and their families. More information about Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers is available by calling 718-875-5625 or at www.bpcinc.org.

Front row, left to right: honorees Judge Matthew DíEmic, Arelis De La Paz, Joan Bartolomeo. Back row, honoree Jonathan Rafferty, Howard Gordon, of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, Chazvito Candio, who received the agencyís Future S.T.A.R. Award last year, and Roger Rosenthal, of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers. Photo by Greg Mango.