11 minute read
Allies in Caring
from 08037 Hammonton | Fall 2022
by nmg
Allies
Celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary of Healing the Community
Created in 2012, Allies in Caring is an organization with its headquarters based in Hammonton, New Jersey. They provide counseling (much of which is given free of charge) for all manner of mental health service needs. They are especially focused on assisting New Jersey’s most vulnerable groups, such as low income families, refugees and people who are LGBTQ+.
The group was founded by Ivette Guillermo-McGahee, who has personal experience going through some struggles of her own. Guillermo-McGahee is an immigrant from Mexico who was born with deaf parents. In order to communicate with her family, she became bilingual in Spanish and English, as well as sign language. She learned that communication is the key to helping others, which led to her becoming a mental health professional who assists others in communicating their struggles.
“I’m an immigrant myself,” said Guillermo-McGahee. “Many of us lose our extended family support. We don’t have parents, uncles, grandparents, or cousins. So that also exacerbates mental health issues. And we need to develop a kind of new family here.”
Though she enjoyed the work, she eventually found that money was another impediment to those who need-
ed help the most. She hated the feeling of having to turn her back on those who could clearly benefit from assistance with emotional or behavioral issues, but were Caring in also struggling financially. “I had a big demand for services,” said Guillermo-McGahee. “Most of the people that needed my services did not have proper insurance that could cover my services. Or they needed to just be at high risk, like almost suicidal, to get approved by the insurance company to pay for my services. And so I decided I needed to expand the capacity to provide services to them.” This ultimately became the catalyst for her founding Allies in Caring, which provides services in Spanish, English and sign language. And as a nonprofit, they are able to receive funding to provide much of their services for free. The group is now about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. In that time, they have grown to a staff of 43 providers and, on a weekly basis, provide services to around 600 people. These services include home-based counseling, where providers will go to the individual’s school or the home of their family to meet with them. For children, that can include providing crisis intervention in a situation where the child is on the brink of being taken away from their family and being sent to foster care or even jail. please see ALLIES, page 9
Allies in Caring tries to circumvent such traumatic outcomes by providing programs to help them transition into a healthy, successful adult life. Programs include focusing on social skill development, stress management and finding a meaningful career. The family counseling is a first step to enable healthier interaction with the community in general.
“We really want to connect the people who are struggling with mental health to resources in their local community,” Guillermo-McGahee explains. “A big factor that contributes to depression and anxiety is isolation. When we address the problem of isolation, we are already helping with 50 percent of the problem. When they are connected and engaged in meaningful opportunities to socialize or work or volunteer, that helps a lot with their recovery.”
To that end, Allies in Caring collaborates with a lot of other organizations to create opportunities to interact with others. These opportunities include inviting local businesses to speak to the youth about job opportunities and how to get into a specific line of work. But it also means opportunities for fun, such as Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons groups for kids. The organization also offers physical recreation through kayaking or hiking trips for families that can’t afford summer camps or going to the beach. They also collaborate with the Hammonton Arts Center to teach kids the importance of expression beyond their words.
“Some of the children have difficulty identifying and articulating their experiences and feelings,” Guillermo-McGahee said in regards to the importance of the art therapy group. “Art is one way to help them make sense of it and express it.”
Allies in Caring also provides tools for parents to be able to better interact with their children. This includes bringing the family together for therapy, focusing specifically on parenting skills and programs that teach relatives sign language. Another aspect that was especially important during COVID, was the organization working to create digital equity by providing computer access and affordable hardware for low-income individuals to use the internet. This includes applying for grants from companies like Comcast that can provide reduced cost or even free wi-fi.
Serving a very prominent number of Hispanic individuals, Allies in Caring also seeks to connect people culturally. That is why for Hispanic Heritage Month, they will be having an event on Sept. 15, starting at 4 p.m, to bring people closer to their roots. The event will include exhibits of traditional dresses, Latino painters, pinatas and feature folkloric dance, traditional board games, poetry and a DJ playing Latino music. An event like this promotes a stronger sense of understanding and unity, and provides people from this heritage an enduring bond with their culture.
This also ties back to how important Guillermo-McGahee believes bonds with others are in the recovery process. “Relationships themselves are the medicine,” she said, stressing the significance of having meaningful connections in everyday life. “When we are in relationships that are based on respect, on valuing, on accepting, those relationships really helped with the healing process.”
If you believe you or someone you know could benefit from these services, you can find more information online at the Allies in
ALLIES continued from page 8 Caring site, or by contacting them through the number 609-561-8400 or the email info@alliesincaring.org.
PHOTOS BY JAMIE GIAMBRONE Previous: (L-R) Maria Isabel Figueroa Corona, Isabel A Pacheco, Cassandra Pichardo and Tania Rivera prepare dolls for display at the upcoming Hispanic heritage month event. Top: (L-R) Octavio Cuenca Maldonado, Luisa Chastel Messner and Founder and CEO Ivette Guillermo-McGahee chat through sign language at Allies in Caring.
Warren R. Heymann, MD Steven M. Manders, MD Justin J. Green, MD Lacy L. Sommer, MD Camille E. Introcaso, MD Donald J. Baker, MD Patrick J. McMahon, MD Julianna Jarvis, PA-C Christina Urday, PA-C Christina Ponzio, PA-C
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©2021 Huntington Mark, LLC. Independently Owned and Operated. SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) are registered trademarks of the College Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. None of these entities were involved in the production of, and do not endorse, this program. *Not valid with any other offers. **Grade level results are based on cumulative average grade level increases in reading and math for 17,445 students from 2010-2014 using the full set of available student data. ***Results are based on surveys of 3,289 Huntington students graduating in 2019, using their initial Huntington Academic Evaluation and final SAT/ACT test score. HLC4157.1
