Hope for the Holidays

In any year, the holiday season is fraught with emotional challenges. High expectations, nostalgia, grief, anxiety, financial stress, and feelings of isolation and depression can all creep in. Everyone from the Mayo Clinic to Charlie Brown have weighed in on the significant impact that the holidays can have on mental health. This experience is now coupled with the loss, isolation and uncertainty of a global pandemic entering another winter. As we continue to navigate the complicated emotions of these times, experts say one of the most important coping mechanisms is engaging with the community you do have, to the extent that you are able.

In many ways, the dedicated staff at Greenwich House were designed for tough times. Many of the immigrant families who relied on our services in the early days were making their way in the United States while navigating challenging circumstances. And through it all, the flu pandemic of 1919, financial crises, the AIDS crisis, and now COVID-19, Greenwich House was a source of help and support.

As Linda Giuliano, Program Director of The Center for Resiliency & Wellness (home of The Children’s Safety Project and Senior Health and Consultation Center) explained in a recent interview with NY1, “Whenever there is a great loss or a change from how things were before, there’s also a great opportunity to move through and discover something that may be wonderful for you. And we don’t want people to lose their sense of hope.”

Anyone who has needed someone to talk to has had a place to go at Greenwich House.

  • Our Behavioral Health services have been providing innovative care to New Yorkers of all ages and have incorporated telehealth options during the pandemic.

  • Our Center for Resiliency and Wellness provides trauma informed, intergenerational therapy services to clients from age 3 to over 100.

  • The merged teams of our Senior Health and Consultation Center and The Children’s Safety Project, offer therapy attuned to the full range of developmental stages and life transitions. The therapists and psychiatric team offer a range of skills from play to talk therapy, medication management and current evidence based techniques including cognitive processing therapy and meditation.  The Center also provides therapy in Spanish.

  • This past summer, the Children’s Music School and the Center for Resiliency and Wellness co-sponsored the program Healing Hearts, a drama therapy 7 week program for ages 6 to 11.

Last month, the Children’s Music School and the Center for Resiliency and Wellness presented the winter program. Holiday Blues, a jazz and creative arts concert,  designed to celebrate the joy of and explore the realities of the holiday season through music, movement, theatre, art and self- reflection.

As you consider your end of year donations, please think of Greenwich House as we continue to build community with you and provide support to all for the next 120 years and beyond.