Recent Trends | Adolescent Counseling Services

Talking to Teens about Violence and Tragedies

in Community Counseling / E-News / Grief / Mental Health / Mental Health / Monitoring Media / Parent Tips / Parent-Teen Communication / Parenting / Recent Trends / Stress by Adolescent Counseling Services August 3, 2016January 27, 2022 0 comments

Written By: Ann Stillingfleet, ACS Clinical Intern, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Community Counseling Programs Every week the news brings stories of seemingly senseless and random acts of violence — either globally or locally. How do we talk to our children, especially our teens, about these events when the source of much of what they […]

Anatomy Of Addiction: How Heroin And Opioids Hijack The Brain

in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment / Drugs & Alcohol / E-News / Prescription Drugs / Recent Trends by Adolescent Counseling Services February 2, 2016January 27, 2022 0 comments

By: Jack Rodolico, NPR Health News “I ended up sniffing a whole one, and I blacked out… it ruined me that time. But I loved it.” When Jack O’Connor was 19, he was so desperate to beat his addictions to alcohol and opioids that he took a really rash step. He joined the Marines. […]

California Suburban Teens Transition from Painkillers to Heroin

in Heroin / Prescription Drugs / Recent Trends / Uncategorized by acsteens August 22, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

KQED, the public media station for Northern California recently did a series of stories on the increase of suburban California teenagers who are transitioning from using painkillers to black tar heroin. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhgdZHPxYds&w=560&h=315] California Watch, a reporting initiative started by the Center for Investigative Reporting, posted this story and video (shown above) on August 15th, […]

US Law Enforcement Begins Major Crackdown of Synthetic Drugs

in Drugs & Alcohol / Other / Substance Abuse / Uncategorized by acsteens July 31, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

As posted on Teen Talk in July 2011 and January 2011 the rise in the popularity of synthetic marijuana and bath salts, has increased immensely over the last year and has brought with it troubling stories of the affects the drugs have on users. These synthetic drugs are typically sold over-the-counter as “legal highs” in […]

Prying or Protecting; Online Software for Parents to Monitor their Teenagers

in Online Monitoring / Online Safety / Parent-Teen Communication / Parenting / Uncategorized by acsteens July 3, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

It is hard to imagine these days an American adolescent that is not connected in some way to the internet. Whether by smart phone, personal laptop, school computer, or shared-family computer; adolescents are “plugged in.” The internet is of course a useful learning tool that in this day and age is necessary in classrooms and […]

The “Good-Grade” Drug-Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse, etc.

in "Good Grade" Drug / Academic Stress / Depression / Drugs & Alcohol / Prescription Drugs / Sleep by acsteens June 15, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

An article published in the Saturday, June 9th, 2012, New York Times put a brilliant spotlight on the prescription drug abuse of Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse, and other medications prescribed to treat symptoms of A.D.H.D, by high school students pushing themselves to succeed in high school and get into top colleges. At high schools across the […]

TeenSphere-A Teen Self-help App

in Academic Stress / Behavioral Norms / Mental Health / Online Safety / Parent-Teen Communication / Parenting / Recent Trends / Stress / Teen Apps / Uncategorized by acsteens April 27, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

Have you heard the phrase, “There’s an App for that.” Well apparently that is true in the case of teen mental health, as well. Its called TeenSphere. The app is designed by a licensed psychotherapist who worked with kids for years. The topics it covers are all from teens’ real life concerns and worries. There are […]

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

in Drugs & Alcohol / Prevention / Recent Trends / Substance Abuse / Upcoming Events by acsteens April 3, 2012January 27, 2022 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 […]

After-school Alcohol Education Program for Middle School Ages Shows Positive Results

in Drugs & Alcohol / Other / Parent Tips / Parent-Teen Communication / Parenting / Prevention / Recent Trends / Substance Abuse by acsteens February 17, 2012January 27, 2022 0 comments

The age at which children begin drinking is surprising. According to a pamphlet distributed by the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse, “by 8th grade, 38.9% of American children have tried alcohol and 17.9% of 8th graders have been drunk at least once.” To combat these percentages Elizabeth D’Amico, a psychologist who has been […]