May 10, 2018
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, came to Rhinebeck on Wednesday to tour the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and School at Astor Services for Children & Families, which provides treatment, counseling and support to families and children struggling with behavioral and emotional health problems.
His tour included two RTC units that recently underwent a mini-renovation with the help of actors Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The day’s program also included a conversation with state elected officials and mental health professionals about the challenges families face related to the opioid epidemic, bullying, and teen suicide and an Astor School Children’s Art Show, where the young artists talked about their work.
“When a parent tells him how he feels his child is safe here, how his child gets better here, that’s what I’m most proud of,”said Astor CEO and Executive Director Jim McGuirk.
Sponsored by Catholic Charities of Archdiocese of New York, and in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Cardinal Dolan’s visit demonstrates the Archdiocese’s support of Astor Services for Children & Families’ 65 years providing community based, non-profit children’s mental health services, child welfare services, and early childhood development programs in New York State’s Mid-Hudson Valley region and the Bronx. Astor currently serves 10,000 children each year through its prevention, early childhood, special education, community behavioral health and residential treatment programs.