No Need to Struggle Alone
Adolescence can be difficult for everyone. But when you’re battling depression, loneliness, and addiction, you really need a helping hand. In this episode of Road to Resilience, Dr. Shilpa Taufique, psychiatrist and Director of the Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service (CARES) at the Mount Sinai Health System, interviews Ronelle Pellicier, former patient, student, and current intake coordinator at CARES.
Stephen Calabrira: From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is a Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's Director of Podcasting. On this episode, we're joined by guest host Shilpa Taufique, PhD.
Dr. Taufique is the vice chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Chief of Psychology for the Mount Sinai Health System.She also serves as Director of CARES, the Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service, a unique and highly effective treatment program for New York City's most vulnerable teens and young adults.
Dr. Taufique interviews Ms. Ronelle Pelissier, the current intake coordinator at CARES.
But not only is Ronelle a employee, she's also a former student and patient of CARES who entered the program as a high schooler having suffered from sexual assault, substance abuse, and depression.
Together, the pair discuss the challenges that Ronelle faced, how she ultimately prevailed, and the strategies for anyone who wants to rise from adversity. We're honored to welcome [00:01:00] Ms. Ronelle Pelissier and Dr. Shilpa Taufique to the show.
Shilpa Taufique: Hi, I am Dr. Shilpa Taufique. I am Director of CARES. CARES is the comprehensive adolescent rehabilitation and education Service, and I am incredibly delighted, and proud and honored and humbled to have with me Ronelle Pelissier, who is our current social work assistant or intake coordinator.
The kind of frontline face of who everybody meets when they try to come to CARES. But what's most exciting for me is that Ronnelle is a former student and patient at CARES and she's really showing us this full circle moment of going from student patient to staff.
And it just thrills me to no end. Welcome, Ronelle.
Ronelle Pellissier: Thank you. Hi.
Shilpa Taufique: So Ronelle, I wanna get us started with what brought you to CARES in the first place. Can you tell me a little bit about growing up I think on the Upper West Side, right?