Sherry Perlstein, Executive Director of the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut, recently received special recognition from the Connecticut Community Providers Association (CCPA). Perlstein has served on the board of the CCPA since 2001 and as the co-chair of the Children’s Behavioral Health Division. She was honored for her years of service to the organization as well as her commitment to children’s mental health issues. The CCPA represents organizations that provide services and supports people with disabilities including people with addiction, mental illness, developmental, and physical disabilities.

Since joining the Child Guidance Center in 1986, Perlstein has led the agency in the implementation of many new programs to target the changing needs of the community. These programs include; 24-hour mobile crisis services; an interagency Child Sexual Abuse Response Team; special services for children who have been victims of crime in their homes or communities; a program for HIV-Affected Children; and a Community Policing Partnership Program. A clinical social worker with over 25 years of experience as a mental health clinician and administrator, Perlstein is widely recognized as an expert on mental health issues. She is often called on to testify in regards to legislative issues and has been interviewed by local and national media.

Perlstein received a masters in social work from Hunter School of Social Work in Manhattan and an undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology from City College in New York. Prior to the CGC, she served as director of mental health services for New York City’s Victims Services Agency. In this position, she worked with the New York City Police Academy and New York City hospitals to develop training programs to respond to situations concerning victims of domestic and child sexual abuse. In 1992, she was honored by Connecticut’s Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families for her leadership as the founding Chair of the Connecticut State Youth Suicide Advisory Board and the success of her efforts to bring attention to the high prevalence of youth suicide in the state and the need for prevention, early intervention and 24-hour crisis programs to reduce the rate of teen suicide. Additionally, Perlstein has served as president of both the Connecticut Association of Mental Health Clinics for Children and the Stamford and Greenwich United Way Councils of Agency Executives. She also served as a member of the Board of the Directors of Domestic Violence Services in Stamford.