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Contact: Gail Donovan
Donovan Communications
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BROOKLYN, NY—May 14, 2004—Two outstanding graduates of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers’ Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program were honored with Future Star Awards, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was presented with an Honorary Star at a reception hosted by the family of Rose Gelormino on May 13, at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Howard Gordon, a Certified Social Worker who is a primary therapist for the Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program, an on-site mental health program based several District 15 elementary and middle schools, presented Future Star Awards to two of his former clients. The honorees, Chazvito Candio, 19, and Modesty Velez, 21, received counseling through the program in elementary and middle school.

“It’s gratifying to see our work validated when children go on to do wonderful things like these two students are doing,” Mr. Gordon said.

Mr. Candio recalled that his participation in the S.T.A.R. Program helped him improve his school work. “I was a kid with a temper and they helped me realize I didn’t have to be angry,” Mr. Candio said. “They gave me something to do so I could control it.”

Mr. Candio will graduate from high school at Brooklyn Comprehensive Night School this June, and plans to attend a trade school for training in Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). He also plays the clarinet and trumpet with a band that performs in different venues in Brooklyn, and once a week he volunteers with students who are in the MS 496 band.

“The whole program itself is a great opportunity for kids to express themselves without being judged,” said Ms. Velez, a high school graduate who is currently studying at the New York Institute of Culinary Arts. “They got me over the whole anti-social thing. Mr. Gordon would try to find ways to relate to us. He was a very helpful person.”

Borough President Markowitz received the first Honorary Star Award from the Gelormino family for his relentless passion and for the support he gives to so many individuals in every neighborhood in Brooklyn, said Mary Gelormino, Rose Gelormino’s daughter who is a client manager for Bank of America.

Dr. Pamela Straker, president and CEO of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, praised the generosity of the Gelormino family and said that because of them, young people who are part of the S.T.A.R. Program will be able to participate in a summer program this year. “It means the children who would have no activity this summer will be able to come to our downtown clinic and participate in activities they wouldn’t otherwise have,” she said.

Created in 1985, the goal of the Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program is to provide 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.

L to R: Howard Gordon, Josee Groleau, Modesty Velez, Chazvito Candio, Dr. Pamela Straker, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Louis Gelormino, Mary Gelormino, Generoso Gelormino, and Elaine Gelormino, at the Rose Gelormino S.T.A.R. Program Awards Ceremony.