Adolescent Substance Use: How and When to Talk to Your Teen

Written By: Kenzie Bohnsack, Clinical PhD Trainee at ACS, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program as children emerge into their teenage years, parents may begin to worry about their adolescent’s use of substances, such as alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and other drugs. Substance use is often initiated and quite common during adolescence. Alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco are […]

Read More

How Parents Can Help Their Underage Kids Resist Alcohol

Reported By: Aimee Cunningham, NPR Health News    “Parental monitoring and warmth are a protective device against kids’ binge drinking.”   While a sense of inevitability often surrounds the topic of teen drinking, adults can play an important role in preventing underage alcohol use. Two recent studies provide guidance for parents. One finds that parents […]

Read More

Substance Use Among Teens Is Never Benign

By: Kathleen Meyers, Ph.D., YouthToday.org Kathleen Meyers, Ph.D., is a senior investigator with the Treatment Research Institute and a recognized leader in the assessment and treatment of adolescent substance use disorders, delinquency and co-morbidity. Meyers is the author of the Comprehensive Adolescent Severity Inventory, a multidimensional assessment instrument for youth with co-morbidity, which is widely […]

Read More

Teens’ overall substance use declining, but marijuana use rising

Image: Torbin Hansen, Marijuana Joint Reported by: EurekAlert!, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)   Marijuana use in teenagers is on the rise, while cigarette and alcohol use are stable or declining, according to health statistics researchers. In particular, black teens are using more marijuana than in recent decades. “Our analysis shows […]

Read More

Drunk Driving: Know the Real Costs

  Author: Monica Ippolito, Marriage & Family Therapist Intern, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program   As we leave Alcohol Awareness Month (April), it is fitting to review and clarify California’s laws on Driving Under the Influence (DUI). When a police officer pulls you over or you drive through a DUI checkpoint, you will be asked several questions and are […]

Read More

Co-Occurring Disorders: Treatment

By: JoAnn Kukulus, M.S. Clinical Psychology BBS Registered Intern at Adolescent Counseling Services Part II of blog series on Co-Occurring Disorders Read Part I: Co-Occurring Disorders: Diagnosis Regardless of which issue presented first, mental health or alcohol/substance abuse, recovery depends on acknowledging and treating both the alcohol/substance abuse and the mental health issue. The most […]

Read More

Co-Occurring Disorders: Diagnosis

By: JoAnn Kukulus, M.S. Clinical Psychology BBS Registered Intern at Adolescent Counseling Services Increasingly at Adolescent Counseling Services, we are encountering clients who are struggling with both alcohol or substance use/abuse and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, and the effects of trauma (PTSD). The intersection of these conditions is rapidly gaining […]

Read More

What is “Palcohol”?

By: Beverly Reyes ACS Intern in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program Source:  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/palcohol-powdered-alcohol-may-present-serious-health-risks/ A new product going by the brand name Palcohol got a rush of media attention this week. Palcohol is simply freeze-dried alcohol in powder form, packaged in small packets that promise an easy way to take a stiff drink on the go. Some health […]

Read More

Teens and Parties

By: JoAnn Kukulus, MS, MFTI ACS Intern When our children were young, we parents had a hand in just about everything they did. We took on the responsibility of organizing and structuring their time in such a way that we knew what they were doing each minute of each day. If we couldn’t actually oversee the […]

Read More

2012 Monitoring the Future Results on Alcohol Abuse

Monitoring the Future is an annual survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th-graders conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, under a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. Since 1975, the survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes in 12th-graders […]

Read More