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Protect Our Children: Stress, Coping and Hope

Sunday, April 19, 2020

NEW YORK -- On Saturday, April 18TH, WABC-TV aired a special entitled, "PROTECT OUR CHILDREN: STRESS, COPING & HOPE" at 7 PM, EDT The program is hosted by Eyewitness News Anchor, Shirleen Allicot, and acknowledges the fact that as the statistics on the Covid-19 pandemic continue to reach record highs, we hope this public health emergency will soon end, with parents & children adapting to new ways of coping with what were the normal stresses of life.

The special introduces a High School Senior in Manhattan who was having some mental health issues at age 14 that needed to be addressed. He shares his journey to help us understand the importance of getting confidential medical and mental help when you need it.

Students facing homelessness and health challenges discuss the importance of seeking help.

Another young man born and raised in Harlem has been coping with homelessness for 2 years. With those numbers growing along with unemployment & the Covid-19 pandemic, he's fortunate to have found support in developing his own mission of working with other young people who are experiencing poverty and homelessness.

Watch 'Protect Our Children: Stress, Coping, and Hope" - only on abc7NY.com

We feature a ten year old transgender girl on Long Island who's dealing successfully with her gender issues and thanks to a supportive family & professional age appropriate care, she is a role model for how one can cope with the struggle to find one's self. Growing pains are no joke and for a child questioning their gender identity, the need for help is even greater. While awareness is growing on this issue, changing a transgender ID is actually quite difficult and a big hurdle for this population. We bring you an advocate, who is non-binary themselves, and has been working on passing a bill for NY State called the Gender Recognition Act. They address the many issues that come up with ID's for transgender people & the difficulties they face.

Protect our Children: Stress, Coping and Hope is only on abc7NY.com

At a time when we're being told to keep a social distance due to Covid-19, it is ironic that many educators and students have been working for some time now on eliminating just that for very different reasons. A middle school in Staten Island confronts the fact that many children cope with social isolation and they're working on ways to help them feel like they're not alone. With teens helping their school mates feel like they're not all alone, it reveals what we all hope for - that we want to come out of these dark times together & not feeling isolated.

"Protect Our Children: Stress, Coping and Hope" is only on abc7NY.com

This Special is the twenty third in a series from WABC-TV's "Protect Our Children" campaign that originated in 1998. The campaign includes informational safety messages, a web site and campaign that continues to broadcast the pictures of missing children in every Eyewitness News Program. The previous Specials have received six Emmy Awards, six "Gracie" Awards from the American Women in Radio-TV-Film (AWRT) and Awards from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, (NCMEC). All of the segments along with additional material, web-chats and links to resources and agencies that can be of help will be posted on ABC7NY.com/Protect after the airing of the program.

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"Protect Our Children: Stress, Coping & Hope"

WEB ADDRESSES & PHONE NUMBERS

Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center

TeenHealthCare.org

212-423-3000

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Treatment Referral Routing Service

SAMHSA.gov

800-662-HELP (4357) National 24/7 Helpline

Mental Health America

For Resources & Expert Advice