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Yearly Archives: 2022

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Sen. Gaughran in his office in August. Photo from Gaughrans office

Today, state Sen. James Gaughran (D-Northport) announced that he will not seek re-election following the decennial redistricting process, according to a press release.

Gaughran released a statement about his decision.

“When I first ran for the State Senate in 2016, I ran to break the logjam in Albany, to pass critical legislation that languished for decades under the Republican majority,” he said in the statement. “Since taking office in 2018, we’ve done just that. In the last four sessions, we’ve: codified a woman’s right to seek an abortion; secured justice long overdue for survivors of child abuse; passed groundbreaking gun safety measures including a Red Flag Law, a Safe Storage Law and a ban on Ghost Guns; set nation-leading environmental standards and water protections; strengthened union protections, guaranteed a prevailing wage for public projects, and approved the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act; took on bias in the workplace, the housing market and public safety; and we’ve begun the process to finally get rid of PSEG’s mismanagement and bring Public Power back to Long Island.  I’ve also personally chaptered over 70 bills into law and my office has helped thousands of constituents with every issue imaginable amidst an unprecedented pandemic.

“I’m proud of everything the Democratic Conference has accomplished under Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’  [D-Yonkers] leadership in just two terms, and I am confident that they will hold that majority moving forward.  But the electoral realities of my home district as drawn by the Special Master cannot be ignored. After speaking with my family, friends, and colleagues, I look forward to serving my district, my constituents, and my state for the rest of my term.

“The unspeakable loss our state and our nation have shared in just the last two weeks demand action from our representatives in Washington. I also intend to spend the next five months working to elect [Suffolk County Legislator] Bridget Fleming [D-Noyac] and Jackie Gordon to Congress and helping any candidate — anywhere — that can bring the United States Senate to its senses.

“We’ve seen what inaction from Washington gets us.  We’ve seen where the Supreme Court plans to take us.  We all need to fight like hell for a better future.  Our children deserve nothing less.”

 

 

 

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Photo by Raymond Janis
The two benches above are the only available outdoor seating areas at Port Jefferson train station. Professor Robert Rosenberger says the armrests along the benches are a common example of hostile design. Photos by Raymond Janis

By Raymond Janis 

During our investigation of seating shortages at Port Jefferson train station, TBR News Media took a closer look at the emerging field of hostile architecture, a design movement that employs subtle and often harmful means to alter public spaces. 

Robert Rosenberger, associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is an expert on the subject of hostile design. He said through architecture, urban designers today can manipulate the environment to ward off certain populations. 

“Hostile architecture refers to when objects in public spaces are designed in a way to control those spaces and push out or control the behavior of already vulnerable groups,” he said in a phone interview. “Benches redesigned to deter people from sleeping on them is one of the main examples of hostile architecture, and we mainly see that done through the addition of armrests.”

The issue of hostile architecture was first observed on social media, according to Rosenberger. However, the issue gained traction among journalists and academics is now being explored as its own discipline. 

Professor Setha Low is director of The Public Space Research Group at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. She researches hostile design and works with design students to envision public spaces that can be more user-friendly and inclusive. 

Hostile architecture is not only disruptive for the individuals that it targets. Low suggests that other vulnerable demographics can also get caught within the crosshairs.

“It doesn’t just make it hostile or unwelcoming for individuals who might want to sleep there,” she said. “It also doesn’t allow older people who might want a place to sit.”

Not all public spaces are equally public and accessible. In cases where hostile design is practiced, public environments can be highly restrictive and unwelcoming, and effectively private. 

“Public space is only as public as you make it,” Low said, adding. “There are a lot of ways we privatize environments and many things that can be done to reduce the publicness of the public space.”

Hostilely designed structures can be difficult to identify as they often blend into the built environment. Because they affect only certain populations, those unaffected can be oblivious to the problem. 

“People who are not targeted by these designs sometimes don’t even recognize that they are there,” Rosenberger said. “Something that’s interesting about hostile architecture is that once you see it for the first time, you start seeing it everywhere.” 

‘Our technologies are going to have values built into them. We have to actively decide the values that we want because otherwise, we have these other values creeping in that we may not even notice.’ — Robert Rosenberger

While there are laws regulating public spaces to ensure handicap accessibility, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are currently no laws that prohibit hostile architecture. “I don’t see anything at the national or state level where there is some kind of prohibition on this kind of design,” Rosenberger said. 

While hostile design most noticeably includes adding materials, such as armrests along public benches, it can also take form through subtraction.

“One of the trends in hostile architecture is removing objects from spaces rather than adding things to those objects,” Rosenberger said. “It’s a kind of design through removal, an architecture that involves no architecture.” He added, “Even if you are in a space and there are no objects there, that can be a form of hostile design as well.”

For Low, hostile architecture is not a design issue. Rather, it is a human issue which speaks to the ways in which people interact with one another. Architecture, therefore, is merely the reflection of the values of a society.

“I don’t think it’s the architecture going wrong,” she said. “I think we’re in a moment in time when some of the more negative impulses and illiberal activities are being tolerated when they wouldn’t have been in other times.” She added, “How we build our environment — our villages, our benches and everything else — is directly related to how we view ourselves and our society at that moment.”

Rosenberger sees two principal values embodied by the hostile architecture movement. “The first one would be a kind of technocratic control, a value of controlling spaces and who is in those spaces,” he said. “The other is a value of washing our hands of that and saying, ‘There’s nothing to see here — the space is innocent.’” He added, “The spaces and the objects are not innocent. They may look innocent, but actually we have values built into that space.”

Low believes public space is always designed with the intent to evoke a certain feeling or experience from the user. For this reason, a public space cannot be innocent or neutral. “The built environment is never neutral,” she said. “How do you feel in different places? Why do you feel that way and what is it in the built environment that is making you feel either encouraged to come or not?”

Rosenberger suggested that to overcome hostile design, a community must first define its own values and then rebuild the environment to express them.

“Our technologies are going to have values built into them,” he said. “We have to actively decide the values that we want because otherwise, we have these other values creeping in that we may not even notice.”

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Port Jeff village trustee candidate’s creative approach to decision-making

Gerard Gang is running for Port Jefferson village trustee. Photo by Joe Iasso

By Raymond Janis

This week, TBR News Media sat down with Gerard Gang, candidate in the upcoming Village of Port Jefferson trustee elections June 21. In our interview, Gang discussed his professional background in packaging, his plans to improve senior services, cultural programs in the village, and more. 

What is your background and why would you like to be involved in local government?

First, I want to say that I am honored to be introduced to the public. For those who don’t know me, I live in Port Jefferson and have been here for 32 years. My wife, Patty, and I have raised two children in the school district. She was a teacher’s assistant in the elementary school and is the hearts of many children no matter where we go.

Professionally, I come from a background in fragrance and cosmetic packaging as a design director. I was responsible for both the marketing and the creative services. Combined with my other creative professional skills, this will be excellent experience and an asset to the role of trustee. 

I want to be a representative of the residents. I’m retired and have the time to be involved in our wonderful village and to create ways of communicating better between the residents and the village. I was a member of the economic development council that founded the farmers market, and I was also a member of the [village] Beautification Committee. I am presently on the Six Acre Park Committee, helping to conceptualize the arboretum and walking park in Upper Port. As residents come to know me, they will learn that I am always willing to listen and make the necessary changes within myself for those whom I may represent. 

I also believe that we need to preserve our history, to strengthen our relationships and opportunities, and to optimize our facilities and programs. We need to create new experiences, foster new ideas and increase our revenue to prevent further financial hardship on the taxpayer, who is already struggling with inflation and other economic restraints caused by the pandemic.

A trustee must wear many hats and accept the challenges that no doubt will arise. I am ready, willing and excited to do just that. 

Can you describe your experience working with the Six Acre Park Committee?

I have been on the committee since April. Some of my background is in landscaping. As a child, I worked on a farm for years and all the way through college. My interest was to develop a beautiful arboretum. There’s such a need in Upper Port to establish something beautiful, something to enjoy. 

We have the condos up there and the new apartments being established. Those people need to have a place where they can walk, meditate and just relax. I think it’s so important for the hospital workers up there. On a stressful day, it would be nice to take 10 minutes to take a stroll through something that’s beautiful, something that’s natural. 

How is your professional experience applicable to the work of a trustee?

My experience in packaging — as well as in landscape design, floral design and interior design — has taught me how to focus. 

In package design, especially in the studio where I worked, we worked directly with the printer, so we were actually on board when a color was mixed. My eye is extremely sensitive. People will say, “That’s black,” when it’s actually a blue-black, or it has a little bit of a red cast to it. My keen eye will help to take this beautiful village and move it into the future. 

A design put together by Gang during his time as a design director of fragrance and cosmetic packaging. Photo courtesy of Gang

It is important to me to hold onto the village’s historic character. I believe in the restoration of Upper Port and I hope to be working with the Architectural Review Committee to update design guidelines to preserve the village’s charm, the integrity of the materials used and the colors selected.  

In your opinion, what are the most critical issues facing the village?

The erosion of the bluff and the bond issue is a pretty big topic. I believe in the initial Phase I to establish the lower wall so that we can still have access to the beach. Until all of the information is presented about the upper wall — the drainage and whether to save the club — I will await making any decision until all facts are gathered and until we know what funding is available. 

The other issue facing the village is the decline in student enrollment within our school district. The well-being of our children is very important to me. As a trustee, I will work to make sure that an ample population of students is maintained so that the diverse assortment of programs and activities are available to them. I will foster ideas on the possibility of rezoning the school district to include all of Port Jefferson. In rezoning, we would increase the diversity of our students and, in turn, our state aid while hopefully keeping our school taxes balanced. For many, rezoning would lower their school taxes while enriching our programs and also provide a full-day pre-K program. 

Another critical issue is increasing village revenue to offset our increases in taxes. I have the knowledge to build upon the revenue in our village by staying within our budget allowances. Through new programs at the Village Center, the country club, the beach and within our village, we have the ability to generate profits that can stabilize our taxes while also providing quality programs for all ages. 

I do support the restoration of Upper Port. It needs to happen and it would be a benefit for all of us as that’s the gateway into our village. I would work with the Architectural Review Committee and with the planning committee to do that. 

What are your thoughts on the availability of cultural programs in the village and is there room for expansion?

There is definitely room for expansion. We have a lot of cultural aspects in the village and one of my platforms is to optimize the Village Center to create more programs and revenue. Through the years, I have been a floral designer, a coordinator of fundraisers, a curator of art exhibits and local art groups. I have the knowledge and the ability to organize events and build upon the revenue of the venue. 

Gerard Gang with a Port Jefferson resident discussing his plans for a council on aging. Photo by Joe Iasso

One of my ideas is to develop new programs at the Village Center. One of them would be to create an opportunity for the disabled and the autistic children to express themselves and communicate through art. My wife worked in the school as a teaching assistant and I know that many of these children express themselves and communicate better through art. I would like to encourage the public to host special events through dinners and senior programs there.

I would also like to create a council for the aging committee. Through educational programs, special events and weekly gatherings, we as a community can address and assist our seniors in their needs. There are so many older people in our village that have been the founders of the village, that have been the strength of the village. It would be wonderful for them to be able to live out their full lives in the village. 

What are some ways in which the Village Center can be upgraded?

The Village Center is a wonderful building. There are so many opportunities there and it’s wonderful to see that two of the class reunions for the high school are now going to be in the Village Center. It’s great to see that it’s beginning to be used for different reasons. All it takes is one person to come in and say, “Wow, this can be a great environment.” 

I have actually done a wedding there. Once you are on the second and third floors, it’s a wonderful environment. It’s beautiful and the view out the window is incredible. With the proper resources and event planners, with flowers and catering, it can be an even more beautiful venue. 

I would like to encourage brides to come in and take a look at the place. If you are having a special event, a party or a family reunion, the opportunity is there. I would like to make some small changes downstairs so that as you walk in, it has that appeal that would make you want to host a special occasion there. 

Gerard and his wife, Patricia, near the Brookhaven Marina and Port Jefferson-Bridgeport Ferry Terminal, above. Photo by Joe Iasso

How can residents play a more active role in decision-making?

As I went door to door, I spoke to so many people about their concerns. I listened to their stories and everything else. What I want to express to so many of the people is that I ask the residents to reach out, to become more active, to communicate and to show up to our village meetings.

The trustees are here to listen to you, so communicate with them. Voice your opinions because your concerns are my concerns and they should be the trustees’ concerns. As I like to say, one positive thought creates one positive word and results in a positive action. As much as you can communicate, it just opens up doors for things to change.

There are so many positive things to look at, to enjoy and to talk about. We should build upon the positives of the village, not just upon the negatives. — Gerard Gang

Is there anything else that you would like to say to our readers?

I actually hope to continue to meet more people. I so enjoy campaigning, meeting so many new people, talking to young people, older people. It was wonderful to come upon the seniors of our village and to listen to their stories. It was just so nice to interact with them because they need to talk and they want to socialize. 

There are so many positive things to look at, to enjoy and to talk about. We should build upon the positives of the village, not just upon the negatives. Like I said before, you take a positive word and it becomes an idea and then it turns into a positive action. 

I hope to become a trustee. It’s in my blood now — the passion that I have to help people and to help the village. 

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Pixabay photo

Save the date! The Huntington Historical Society presents the Spring Festival of Gardens Tour on Sunday, June 5 from noon to 4 p.m. Come spend a day enjoying some of Huntington’s gorgeous gardens during this self-guided tour to delight and inspire you. And don’t miss refreshments and the Society’s popular plant sale at the historical Kissam property, 434 Park Avenue, Huntington. Tickets are $40 per person, $35 for members, $45 day of the event, if available. For more information, call 631-427-7045 or visit www.huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org.

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Photo from TVHS

The Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket has announced it will join museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The program will run now through Labor Day, Sept. 5. 

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and museums across America.

“Museums educate and inspire, cause us to wonder and imagine, dream and remember,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “By participating in the Blue Star Museums program, the Three Village Historical Society is offering military personnel and their families an opportunity to feel connected to the Three Village community and to explore the world through the power of arts, culture and design, contributing to each person being able to live an artful life.”

For more information, call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org. 

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The Loft School of Jazz has a summer program. Above, Ray Anderson teaches a class. Photo from The Jazz Loft

The Jazz Loft’s School of Jazz program for young students will be offering a summer program, with scholarship opportunities available for those qualifying students. This one-of-a-kind music program offers students an opportunity to collaborate, improvise, learn jazz theory curriculum, and overall shape their musicianship skills.

The Summer School of Jazz program meets July 25 to July 30, from 10 a.m. to noon daily at the Jazz Loft, located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook, with a concluding performance on July 30. The program is open to all ages and abilities and there is no audition required.

For more information and or to register, visit https://www.thejazzloft.org/loft-school-of-jazz

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This visual presentation shows the words and phrases used on Facebook posts from individuals in the study considered either high- or low-risk for excessive drinking. Credit: Rupa Jose and Andrew Schwartz

Alcoholism can be a difficult condition to diagnose, especially in cases where individuals’ drinking habits are not noticed and physical symptoms have not yet manifested. In a new study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, co-author H. Andrew Schwartz, PhD, of the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, and colleagues determined that the language people used in Facebook posts can identify those at risk for hazardous drinking habits and alcohol use disorders.

Collaborating with Schwartz working on The Data Science for Unhealthy Drinking Project is Stony Brook University doctoral candidate Matthew Matero, and Rupa Jose, PhD, lead author and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

Key to the research was the use of Facebook content analyzed with “contextual embeddings,” a new artificial intelligence application that interprets language in context. The contextual embedding model, say Schwartz, Jose and colleagues, had a 75 percent chance of correctly identifying individuals as high- or low-risk drinkers from their Facebook posts. This rate at identifying at risk people for excessive drinking is higher than other more traditional models that identify high-risk drinkers and those vulnerable to alcoholism.

“What people write on social media and online offers a window into psychological mechanisms that are difficult to capture in research or medicine otherwise,” says Schwartz, commenting on the unique aspect of the study.

“Our findings imply that drinking is not only an individually motivated behavior but a contextual one; with social activities and group membership helping set the tone when it comes to encouraging or discouraging drinking,” summarizes Jose.

Investigators used data from more than 3,600 adults recruited online — average age 43, mostly White — who consented to sharing their Facebook data. The participants filled out surveys on demographics, their drinking behaviors, and their own perceived stress  — a risk factor for problematic alcohol use. Researchers then used a diagnostic scale to organize participants — based on their self-reported alcohol use — into high-risk drinkers (27 percent) and low-risk drinkers (73 percent).

The Facebook language and topics associated with high-risk drinking included more frequent references to going out and/or drinking (e.g., “party,” “beer”), more swearing, more informality and slang (“lmao”), and more references to negative emotions (“miss,” “hate,” “lost,” and “hell”). These may reflect factors associated with high-risk drinking, including neighborhood access to bars, and personality traits such as impulsivity.

Low-risk drinking status was associated with religious language (“prayer,” “Jesus”), references to relationships (“family,” “those who”), and future-oriented verbs (“will,” “hope”). These may reflect meaningful support networks that encourage drinking moderation and the presence of future goals, both of which are protective against dangerous drinking.

Overall, the authors conclude that “social media data serves as a readily available, rich, and under-tapped resource to understand important public health problems, including excessive alcohol use…(The) study findings support the use of Facebook language to help identify probable alcohol vulnerable populations in need of follow-up assessments or interventions, and note multiple language markers that describe individuals in high/low alcohol risk groups.”

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Time to buckle up! In celebration of its 45th anniversary, Smokey and the Bandit returns to over 650 select theaters nationwide on Sunday, May 29 and Wednesday, June 1, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events.

Directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Sally Field and Jerry Reed, Smokey and the Bandit delivers outrageous laughs in one of the biggest box-office hits of all time. The movie was the second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977 and spurred numerous spin-offs.

Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of Fathom Events

Bo “Bandit” Darville Bandit (Reynolds), a fun-loving, fast-talking trucker, takes on his craziest haul yet—delivering 400 cases of beer from Texarkana to Atlanta in just 28 hours. With Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason) hot on his trail and eager to teach him some respect for the law, the Bandit joins forces with good ol’ boy Cledus (Reed) and runaway bride Carrie (Field). 

Gear up for huge laughs, pedal-to-the-metal action, and some of the wildest car crashes ever filmed!

Viewers will also be treated to exclusive behind-the-scenes insights and background information about the making of the movie from Turner Classic Movies.

Locally the film will be screened at Regal Deer Park 16, 455 Commack Road, Deer Park on May 29 at 4 p.m. and June 1 at 7 p.m.; Island 16 Cinema de Lux, 185 Morris Ave., Holtsville on June 1 at 7 p.m.; and Farmingdale Multiplex, 1001 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale on June 1 at 7 p.m. 

Up next, The Wizard of Oz, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Thing, The Fifth Element and Forever Golden! A Celebration of the Golden Girls head to the big screen in June.

To order tickets in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.

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Stock photo

The first in a two-part series, this article highlights the ways COVID-19 exacerbated an already difficult mental health landscape on Long Island, particularly for adolescents. Amid isolation and uncertainty, residents had an increase in anxiety-related and mental health crises. Additionally, residents in acute distress who arrived at the emergency room sometimes had to wait hours or days for an inpatient psychiatric bed. In the second feature, which will appear in a future edition, mental health workers describe the challenges of their work during the pandemic.

COVID-19 has taken its toll on mental health throughout Suffolk County, as people in a range of ages confront challenges related to isolation, depression, anxiety and grief.

Area hospitals report that inpatient psychiatric beds are rarely empty. Indeed, patients have had to receive treatment in the emergency room at times for a day or more as they wait for an available inpatient psychiatric bed.

“Our emergency room has two behavioral health beds, but often, we have more patients waiting for admission to [the] inpatient psychiatry unit,” said Dr. Adnan Sarcevic, chairman of the Psychiatry Department at Huntington Hospital. 

While patients receive the same treatment in the emergency room that they would in an inpatient unit, some types of intervention, like group psychotherapy “cannot be provided in an emergency room setting,” Sarcevic said.

COVID also exacerbated the shortage of beds when some units had to close after an outbreak of the virus.

“We had periods when some psychiatric inpatient units were closed for a variety of different reasons including COVID outbreaks” which created a shortage of beds, Sarcevic added.

At St. Catherine of Siena in Smithtown, beds filled up as soon as one opened, said Dr. Michel Khlat, chief medical officer.

Adolescent strains

The pandemic exacerbated trends that already reflected the mental health strain among youth and adolescents.

For the previous decade, youth presentations for mental health crises in the emergency room had been increasing.

During the pandemic, those numbers climbed nationally and on Long Island. Estimates of anxiety among youth increased to 20%, which is dramatically higher than the 12% prior to the pandemic, said Dr. Vera Feuer, associate vice president in the School Mental Health program at Northwell Health. Depression has also reached about 20%, which was previously below 10%.

Additionally, the pandemic caused a three-fold increase in children with eating disorders, which is consistent with new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, Feuer added.

“There’s a real big increase in presentation to the emergency room” with youth who are considering suicide, particularly for girls who are 10 to 13 years old.

Additionally, adolescents are showing an increase in tic disorders, which are involuntary movements of the neck, eye or facial movements, Feuer said. While some studies suggest a link between depression and these movements, other research has linked them to the increasing use of social media.

As for the availability of mental health services, adolescents are continuing to find it difficult to become outpatients for an overburdened mental health care system, which increases the need for emergency services.

Community services are often “saturated,” Feuer said. “There are not enough child psychiatrists” which means that children go without care for longer, she said.

On Long Island, the wait for inpatient beds is not as long as it reportedly has been in other areas of the country.

“We do have kids waiting at least a day or over the weekend,” said Feuer. She suggested that access to beds and to crisis programs in school have mitigated some of the adolescent demand.

Dr. Stacy Eagle, director of Psychiatry at St. Charles Hospital, cautioned that the potential for addiction and substance abuse is “concerning. Even marijuana is dangerous, because you don’t know what it’s laced with and it can become incredibly addicting.”

Broader challenges

The shortage of inpatient beds predated the arrival of COVID, with mask mandates, social distancing, remote learning and at-home work altering routines and creating stressors that often increased anxiety and triggered the kind of self-medication that led to substance abuse.

“I’ve seen it step up on a daily, weekly, monthly basis” in terms of generalized anxiety disorders and panic attacks, said Dr. Jeffrey Wheeler, director of the Emergency Department at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.

Eagle said she has seen more anxiety, mood disorders and substance abuse, with more acute patients coming in from schools.

Doctors suggested that COVID itself can contribute to the worsening of a person’s emotional well-being.

“COVID certainly plays a role in mental health, both as a psychosocial stressor and due to the neurotropic nature” of the virus, said Sarcevic.

The types of treatment varies according to the severity of the symptoms, the underlying conditions, and any ongoing treatment plans.

“Some people come in who are in need of medication to be stabilized for depression,” said Khlat.

To accommodate the increasing need for non-acute psychiatric services, health care professionals have been offering telepsychiatry help.

In the last three months, St. Catherine of Siena expanded their telepsychiatry services, which had been offered primarily on the weekends, to seven days a week.

“Due to the influx of patients we’re having, with COVID depression we had to [expand that] to the rest of the week,” Khlat said. These services “helped us out a lot.”

Silver lining

Feuer suggested a few silver linings amidst the health care crisis.

“The attention to something we know has been a problem for a long time” will help the community, she said. “I’m hoping the right resources and interventions will come.”

Additionally, the increased vigilance of mental health challenges has enabled people to feel that asking for mental health resources is something they can, and should, do.

“It has normalized these conversations,” Dr. Feuer said.

Available resources

Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, urged people who think they need help to get it right away.

Those people seeking help for substance abuse or mental health can visit www.SuffolkStopAddiction.org to find a network of providers in the 2022 Suffolk County Directory of Behavioral Health Services guide.

The following are resources available to those in crisis:

— Family Services League’s Diagnostic, Assessment and Stability Hub (DASH) program. This is a 24-hour stabilization response program for children and adults in crisis due to substance abuse, mental illness and other life stressors. They are located at 90 Adams Avenue in Hauppauge. Their phone number is 631-952-3333.

— A free 24-hour hotline: 631-751-7500, or www.responsehotline.org.

— A Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) at Stony Brook Hospital at 101 Nicolls Rd in Stony Brook is available at 631-444-6050. CPEP has voluntary and involuntary emergency psychiatric services for children and adults every day.

“It is important for individuals to engage in self-care,” Pigott wrote in an email. “Listening to each other and recognizing the signs of mental illness and substance use can help mitigate a developing crisis.”

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