Image: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho By Charlotte Villemoes, LMFT On-Campus Counseling Program Site Director, Woodside High School Every day, all of us experience some sort of stress. Most of the teens I meet in my private and professional life will at some point talk about how stressed they are; they talk about feeling overwhelmed by school demands, […]
image: Adam Lederer By: Ana Jimenez Adolescent Counseling Services’ Intern The holidays are here! The holidays are here! Lights everywhere, food and family! For the young, the best part is school is out! Others are off work. It is December, the time when families celebrate holidays like Christmas, Hanukah, or Kwannza. When we think about the holidays, […]
Image: Cascadian Farm Source: palyvoice.com by: Lydia Barry Published November 9, 2014 Counseling at Palo Alto High School is highly stigmatized, and is a concept many students are ignorant towards. Some do not know what Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS) is or exactly what it does. “I don’t think people utilize [counseling] as much as they could,” senior […]
Image: Ludwig By: Monica Ippolito ACS After-School Counseling Program Intern Now that the fun of returning to school is starting to wear off here are some ways that you can help your teen be there best this year: 1. Attend School Daily: Reserve sick days for those in which your teen has a fever, nauseated, […]
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 […]
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 […]
By Pamela Garfield, LCSW Site Director at Gunn High School Our kids just got through the end of the semester and finals. Finals, holidays, college applications and the many other pressures of this time of year can be very challenging. Sometimes life just takes over and we have to go into “survival mode” to get […]
Jennica Janssen, LMFTI ACS Outpatient Counseling Intern Is there anything wrong with asking for help? As you read this question, you are probably thinking, “Of course not.” However, the truth is that most people do not want to reach out of their comfort zone and ask for help. Instead, people accept too much responsibility and […]
Between exams, college applications, friend drama and dating angst, you have enough to worry about as a teenager without constantly stressing out about your future. Although there are some things in high school that can be genuinely anxiety-inducing (the common app! landing a prom date!), other concerns — like a getting a credit card or […]
May 6-12 is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week organized by the Child Mind Institute and supported by a number of adolescent health and substance abuse organizations. The following is a message from the president of the Child Mind institute, Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D., a leading child and adolescent psychiatrist. Why is it important to […]
