Praise Goes A Long Way

Written By: Christine Miller, ACS Clinical Intern, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Community Counseling Programs Too often teens feel like they are constantly being told “No” by their parents, teachers, coaches, or other adults, and that they do not hear “Great Job!” enough. Being a teen is hard enough. But, being a teen that has […]

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Trust: A Two-Way Street

Written By: Laura Cole, ACS Clinical Intern, Community Counseling and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Programs In relationships trust is an essential component.  But, what is this sometimes seemingly “intangible” thing we call trust among parents and teens?  How is it built and maintained on this two-way street?  How does one repair when a breach occurs? […]

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A Conversation With Your Teens

Written By:  Monica Ippolito, ACS Clinical Intern, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Community Counseling Programs If any parents of teenagers happen to be of Generation X, then you can reminisce with me about the cartoons we grew up watching. Cartoons like G.I. Joe, She-Ra, He-Man, The Care Bears, The Smurfs, and Inspector Gadget all had […]

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Resilience – How to Help Our Teens Stay Strong

Written By: Charlotte Villemoes, ACS Site Supervisor, On-Campus Counseling Program I have the privilege and the pleasure of listening to teens every day. They tell me stories about their lives, stories that often move and inspire me. Many of them describe hardship that seems close to unbearable, yet the vast majority somehow perseveres and moves forward. […]

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Additional Support for Parents when Adolescents Lie about Drug Use

Written By: Mayra Vargas, MFTI, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program Parental instinct is key to supporting their teens with their drug use/abuse. Parents sometimes ignore their “gut instinct” that lets them know something is happening with their adolescent.  Often a parent will tentatively ask about these issues, and the teen will say ‘everything is fine’ — […]

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Love and Parenting

Written By: Alex Basche, ACS Clinical Intern, Community Counseling Program and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program   Love: it can make your heart skip a beat, spawn butterflies in your stomach and has been called by some as the “ultimate drug”. We’ve seen it on TV, heard it lauded in songs and read about it […]

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Dear Parents: Being a “Good” Parent is Not About Being Perfect!

Written By: Kelly Sumner, LMFT, ACS On-Campus Counseling Program Site Supervisor     I need to start here by acknowledging that I am not a parent and thus do not understand first hand the pressure parents face to raise their children into well-adjusted, successful, happy, moralistic, responsible members of society in today’s world. It’s a […]

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Positive Communication between Teens and Parents

By: Mayra Vargas, ACS Intern, Community Counseling Program Communication between adolescents and parents is one of the most difficult things in the realm of family relationships. Adolescents in the teen stage begin to explore and experiment with their own identities, and that can sometimes cause a shift in the parent-adolescent relationship. Sometimes, parents don’t know how to communicate with […]

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Conscious Parenting

by Roni Gillenson, LMFT Program Director, On Campus Counseling Program   It has been said time and time again that parenting is one of the most challenging jobs.  As we think about how we were raised, what we want to do the same or different in parenting and examine the role models we want to be […]

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Dating Violence – Is Your Teen At Risk?

Image: Jan Fidler Kissing couple Author: Maria Horwich, LMFT Site Director at Redwood High School Adolescence is an exciting and turbulent time for many of our teens. It is at this age that many of our children start dating. Many parents I meet are surprised that teen relationships are sometimes abusive.  In a nationwide survey, […]

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