Fall Fling puts a Spotlight on Child and Family Services

Fall Fling puts a Spotlight on Riverside’s Child and Family Services in Cambridge and Somerville!

More than 100 people gathered at the Regattabar in Cambridge on Friday, October 20, to learn more about The Guidance Center at our Fall Fling. The Guidance Center is the name of some of Riverside’s Child and Family services in Cambridge and Somerville. More than a third of the attendees were new to the Riverside community.

We’re so grateful to the Fall Fling Host Committee for planning such a great event and for inviting their friends, neighbors and colleagues – thank you to committee co-chairs Ed Feijo & Susan Flannery, Fran Arnold, Amy Barrie, Judy Bright, Sasha Ebrahimi, Anil Gullapalli, Greg Hagan, Melody Mak-Jurkauskas, Gail Roberts, Ellis Seidman, Rosely Shields, Hitesh Trivedi and Sue Kriegsman. Thank you to everyone for coming and also to our volunteers!

The evening featured guest speaker Gardite Fougy, whose family receives services from Riverside and The Guidance Center. She came to us when her son was eight years old and really struggling. Our clinicians created a behavioral plan that helped him (and his mom) learn how to pull through the family’s many tough transitions. Gardite told the crowd that Riverside was a life-saver! Her son, now 13, is doing things she never thought would be possible. And, Gardite is now employed by Riverside helping parents of other children with emotional or behavioral health needs – teaching them how to navigate the child-serving systems, identify community supports, develop contacts with support groups, and more.

It was inspiring to hear how our clinicians can help a child and family that are struggling. For more information about how you can help, contact Melissa Kogut at mkogut@riversidecc.org or 781-320-5319.

~Melissa Kogut, VP of Development