Lisa, the two of us initially connected through an exciting and groundbreaking new initiative Northern Westchester Hospital is launching around child and adolescent mental health. Can you share how the initiative started, how you first came to be involved in the program and some of its broader goals?
Healthcare has been an important issue on my radar for 20 years easily; Mental health probably in the last 10. But for the last half a dozen I couldn’t read a news thread without encountering articles and journals reporting the saddest trends - incidence of mental health challenges were ever increasing at a time when services were unavailable or unaffordable. The thought of kids’ mental health being so challenged and no obvious interventions was not something to be ignored.
The initiative really started from the leadership at Northern Westchester Hospital who facilitated and encouraged the work of our Community Health Committee of the Board to advocate for child and adolescent mental health services. Northwell’s regional and system leadership saw the potential in replicating their successful mental health model in Long Island, here in Northern Westchester. With the community health committee platform at Northern Westchester Hospital, we started digging into the issue and learning about Northwell’s initiative. We had great faith that with some adjustments to reflect the unique needs of our geography and communities, we could be on our way to a solution. Adding the local voices of those who shared their stories, superintendents and school personnel who were seeking solutions… It's the proverbial village who deserves credit for this initiative.
The overarching goal of the child and adolescent mental health initiative is to provide an integrated array of expert, accessible, affordable mental health services and treatment options. From education and awareness training to a bricks and mortar crisis center to partial hospitalization/outpatient facilities, these audacious goals aim to make sure that no child should suffer alone and no parent should feel helpless.
You have lived in Bedford for many years and dedicated yourself to some very important causes including education, the environment, sustainable farming and healthcare. You and I have had several discussions about the need for better resources around mental health, but why do you think it’s so important that this be driven by our community hospital and why at this very moment?
In my view, there are several institutions at the heart of a successful community, a hospital being one of them. Northern Westchester Hospital has been the little engine that could in the world of healthcare, always punching above its weight class. I believe it’s the culture of the community, the hospital, its leaders and staff - all embracing the idea of doing right by the community, even if it’s not always easy or core. While we are stepping out beyond the walls of the hospital, beyond physical healthcare - the mental health response demanded a bold vision, in this case, leveraging Northwell’s proven Child and Adolescent Mental Health services - so I couldn’t think of any better entity to drive such a comprehensive effort.
You ask, “why this very moment?” If not now when? How much longer should we step over the problem, look the other way and let kids languish? Children need to thrive and we owe it to them and owe it to their futures to step up as soon as possible.
A large part of the program will involve getting buy-in from local school districts and other community partners. Can you talk about some of those partnerships and why the initiative is so focused on schools being our first line of defense when it comes to our kids and mental health?
The hospital has a long-standing relationship with local schools and deep connections with community partners. We reach out to inform and to support as well as to obtain input from the community so we can provide better services at the hospital. To address the mental health of children and adolescents at scale, there’s probably no better partner than schools who have so much interface with kids through teachers and staff and administrators. They are the front line and not only can they access the kids, but can facilitate access to parents and families. From a delivery standpoint, there’s infrastructure around schools that will allow us to offer education, prevention and coaching programs in an efficient way.
One of the first projects you worked on when you moved to Bedford was starting an program designed to provide early childhood education to those in our community who couldn’t afford it (decades before the concept of Universal Pre-k) Can you share a little about the impact that program had and if you ever imagined at that point the mental health epidemic we are seeing amongst youth and teens today?
As you point out, there was no public program for those who weren’t able to afford a preschool education. Providing access for lower income families seemed to be something we could address. We came up with a concept of being the integrator, if you will, of private preschools, families in need, and funding. In this case, our partners were private preschools, and with their consent and eager participation, they would allocate one or two slots to kids that we would identify, screen with the help of qualified school personnel and submit them for admission while at the same time raising private funds in the community to pay for those tuitions.
While in existence it sent dozens of kids to school, many of whom went onto higher education. Importantly, when those kids arrived in public kindergarten, they were ready for school with developed fine and gross motor skills, understanding behavioral norms and more, enhancing their own potential as well as making for smoother classrooms. Fortunately the entity was able to go out of business as universal pre-K was ultimately provided directly by districts.
I can’t say that I ever imagined the mental health epidemic that we’re seeing today, It probably surprises few. With the ever increasing presence of electronics, social media and other non-in person, face-to-face high touch opportunities coupled with public health crises worldwide, conflict zones and the lack of civil discourse in our daily lives to name just a few, it’s a wonder the crisis isn’t even deeper than we perceive it to be.
Another passion of yours is sustainable farming, over twenty years ago you established Rainbeau Ridge in Bedford Hills which became one of the first Community Agriculture Partnerships in the area, eventually producing award winning cheese and providing educational programs for the community. Your professional background was in management consulting, can you share a little about the decision to leave that part of your life behind for farming? Did you ever look back? You’re right my original professional background was management consulting - that was over 45 years ago! Roll the cameras forward to 2001 and I found myself suddenly a farmer and a cheese maker. There is no logical connection. There was no direct through line. I tend to think of my life as chapters responding to perhaps what I’d learned up until that point and combining that with evolving interests and the circumstances in my life at that moment.
Repatriating to the US after an overseas living experience, I was trying to figure out what was next when 9/11 happened. Within a few short weeks of returning home, suddenly the working world and business world didn’t seem so important to me. My family’s quality of life and rebuilding community connections around things that were meaningful, that could bring joy was my anchor … I believed the answer was somehow related to food. With attributes of protection, health, diplomacy, fun, to name a few, food seemed to sit at the intersection. Growing food added even more possibilities- nurturing, teaching, sustainability, learning- which were realized at Rainbeau Ridge.
Long story shorter, we literally and figuratively grew this farm commercially for over a decade, giving great joy to those of us who worked it and I would dare say great pleasure, delicious food, and learning experiences to the community who chose to participate. Did I ever look back? I always look back on things and try to make sense of what I did wrong and maybe what I did right so as to inform my next chapter. (It’ll take a bottle of wine to more completely answer the looking back question!)
You have spent decades now dedicated to philanthropy, giving your time and resources to causes that you care deeply about both locally and globally. I’m curious how you think about measuring the impact you and the causes you are involved with are having and what are some of the initiatives you have been most proud of over the years?
Wow, that’s a great question - my engagement with nonprofits and causes is almost as old as I am. I was raising money when I was in second grade for the John F Kennedy library - it was all of $3.11 that I made by having a fair in my backyard. Giving money to worthwhile causes was just how we were brought up. From a young age we were taught that repairing the world was a personal obligation. I guess the question was how to pick your corner?
When I put a spotlight on the initiatives that I found myself engaged with over time, they tended to be what I viewed as basic rights of individuals - healthcare, education, food, clean water, housing, voting. I didn’t embrace them all at the same time or equally but I did believe (sometimes naively) that overcoming deficits in these areas could level the playing field in life and lift up communities.
Early initiatives were largely local before moving to national and international causes. I thought that might facilitate scalability, where systemic change could be made. To some extent that was true but large scale organizations come with drawbacks. In more recent years I’ve tended to refocus on things with a local nucleus. It’s critical to have great partners with integrity and humanity and at the end of the day, working locally, I can look around and see change, see families making positive impacts on their lives.
What advice have you given to your own two children over the years when it comes to their careers and making a difference in the world that you think they would want you to pass on to others?
Oh, my, I think you should ask my kids about that one. I’d like to think that we’ve equipped them with information, experiences, support and love so that they could decide for themselves in terms of careers and impact. Hopefully we modeled this behavior. I’m proud of our kids and their families and believe that they are on their way to finding their own pathways of giving back and making a difference.
All trends seem to be going in the wrong direction when it comes to mental health and our children, especially given the rise of our dependence on social media and the growing political divisiveness of our own country. What do you think it will take to change course?
To right a direction first means you have to identify what is wrong. There are so many factors in our world today that seem so out of whack and so wrong. The hard work is to call those out and say we’re not going to accept that as a way of life; we can start to make changes but only with commitment and activation. (It turns out that yelling at my television doesn’t change anything.)
I think as a parent it’s super hard to call things out when your kids have so many outsized, external influences. It’s hard to accept that you are not the sole source of their world and information. That parents want their kids to be happy is nothing new but sometimes the manifestation of that is to do things that provide superficial pleasure and not make hard choices because that would make us pretty unpopular with our kids. To not accept things that we believe are wrong, as long as that belief is based on truth and civil discourse and tolerance would be a step in the right direction.
Finally, how can people learn more or get involved with the Hospital’s new mental health initiative?
Oh, that might be my favorite question! 1-800-call-me. We are in the process of rolling out many Community awareness programs. As we round with the schools in our area there will be natural opportunities to hear more, learn more, get involved, programmatically, and importantly philanthropically.
The best outreach would be:
Programs: Grace O’Shaughnessy, Director, Community Health goshaughne@northwell.edu
Funding: Whitney Hartman, NWH Foundation whartmann@northwell.edu
And, I’m happy to have people reach out for me directly if that is helpful
lisarr55@gmail.com
Lightning Round:
What’s your favorite thing about living in our area?
The natural beauty and (still) a rural feel
What’s the best thing you’ve read recently?
And Anna Quindlen’s
Nanaville - read her NYTimes column every Thursday when I hadmbabies and hearing her voice talk about grandmothering is joyfully relatable.
What’s one local business you’d like to see open?
Not missing much. I especially love Katonah shopping because it’s so neighborhoody…Cheers- like where everybody knows your name
What would you do with one extra hour each day?
Hang with my grandchildren (theme here !?!)
