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Adolescent Counseling Services’ Resource Blog

Marijuana is Most Popular With Teens, How to Notice the Signs of Use

in Drugs & Alcohol / Marijuana / Parent Tips / Parenting / Prevention / Recent Trends / Substance Abuse  by acsteens 0 comments

Since marijuana use among teens is thought to be more widespread than alcohol, About.com has posted some very informative statistics about marijuana use amongst teens. These statistics come from trusted government studies and prevention organizations and they tell a powerful story about when our children begin using substances like marijuana. Here are just a few: […]

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Spring Fever or Loss of Motivation: How to Help Your Underachieving Teen

in Parent Tips / Parent-Teen Communication / Setting Boundaries / Teaching Mindfulness / Teen Motivation  by acsteens 0 comments

By Jennifer Jones, LCSW, Site Director, Palo Alto High School It’s that time of year; the long winter is over, trees are blossoming, the temperature is warming, and we all want to go to the beach instead of to work.  That’s why Spring Break was invented.  But what if a week of vacation doesn’t revive […]

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New Study Finds US Adolescent Substance Abusers Started Using at Age 14

in Drugs & Alcohol / Prevention / Recent Trends / Substance Abuse / Upcoming Events  by acsteens 0 comments

A new study published in the April issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry found many alarming statistics about what age US children begin using substances such as; alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and harder narcotics. In the study, Joel Swendsen, of the University of Bordeaux in France, and colleagues analyzed data from a U.S. survey […]

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Affordable Care Act Provides Teens Access to Mental Health

in Affordable Care Act / Mental Health / Mental Health / Recent Trends  by acsteens 0 comments

As the US Supreme Court sits in deliberation over legal issues that surround the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (ie. health care reform); one group of health care professionals, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has stepped out as supporters of the bill. “This law has already helped maintain or improve access to preventive services for […]

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Helping Teens as They Look into the Future

in Parent Tips / Parent-Teen Communication / Parenting / Teaching Mindfulness  by acsteens 0 comments

by Martha Chan, M.A., LMFT, Site Director for Terman Middle School and parent of Gunn High School graduates, class of ’99 and class of ’03 I want to carry forward some of the resilience concepts that my colleague, Chris Chiochios, wrote about in an earlier newsletter: accepting our children for who they are and helping them to […]

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How to Spot the First Signs of Teen Depression

in Depression / Drugs & Alcohol / Mental Health / Parent Tips / Parent-Teen Communication / Suicide / Suicide Prevention / Uncategorized  by acsteens 0 comments

Recently About.com posted a really helpful post about the “First Signs of Teen Depression.” The post was written by About.com’s resident teen health expert Denise Witmer. Here is the beginning of Denise’s post. Many times parents of teens who have tried to or have committed suicide struggle with the idea that there were signs of […]

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