Family Counseling Center Announces Summer Youth Program

Throughout the month of July, The Family Counseling Center’s Children and Family Support Services will be hosting a Social-Emotional Learning Camp for children and young adults on a weekly basis. Led by Kaitlyn Atchinson, the organization’s Youth Peer Advocate and Shawn Flynn from the HFM Prevention Council, the camp will focus on social skills, problem solving, and coping skills.

The camp is open to clients of The Family Counseling Center and will be held at the organization’s headquarters on Broadway in Gloversville and at various locations around the City. There will be two groups, one for children and another for adolescents and young adults and will run Thursday and Friday afternoons.

After months of restrictions, online or hybrid schooling, and the overall worry about COVID-19, kids are now facing new challenges as they navigate their way through a newly open world. Across the country, healthcare institutions have seen a rise in mental health emergencies in children. The isolation of COVID restrictions, constant worry about the physical health of family members, and lack of routine are all contributing factors to the crisis. Additionally, The CDC’s study on COVID-19 addresses the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health, showing a 44% increase in children’s mental health related emergency department admissions for 2020 when compared with 2019 data.

 “The Summer Camp will help provide skills to children and young adults and is one tool in our belt as we help them reconnect to their peers and others in the community,” said Kathleen Calabrese, Director of Children and Family Services at The Family Counseling Center. “Our Children and Family Support Services team does amazing work every day with children and their families in order to create empowered individuals. This camp focuses on empowering children and youth so that they can feel some control as they begin to emerge from the COVID crisis.”