• The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
• Senior-itis – Tips for Seniors from Radical Parenting
• Teens, Sex, and Technology by PsychCentral
• Junk Food – The Next Frontier
• Tens Tips to Conquer Perfectionism
• Video Game Addiction 1-10 Teens

Sarah Stewart is the Northeast Business Development Representative for Caron Treatment Centers.  Caron is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide an enlightened and caring treatment community in which all those affected by alcoholism or other drug addiction may begin a new life.
 
Now in its sixth decade of providing quality services, Caron offers a full spectrum of gender-specific chemical dependency treatment programs to meet the needs of everyone from adolescents to seniors. Caron’s proven expertise includes early intervention, medical evaluation and detoxification, residential primary, relapse and extended care, outpatient treatment for adults and adolescents, continuing care, family counseling and codependency treatment

We are often in a position to help students share difficult information either with a parent, friend, or teacher.   We also counsel faculty on how to assist those they advise in sharing difficult information.  Here are a few options next time you are discussing sharing difficult information with a student.

• Role-playing the disclosure
• Offering to be present for the teen’s disclosure
• Offering to be the spokesman, with the teen present
• Offering to be the spokesman, with the teen absent

Rosalind Wiseman is the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence published by Crown in May 2002. Twice a New York Times Bestseller, Queen Bees & Wannabes was the basis for the 2004 movie Mean Girls. 

Ms. Wiseman speaks to boys and girls, parents, and educational professionals throughout the world. Her presentations on social justice transcend cultural and economic boundaries, and her speaking engagements take her to public, private, and religious schools, as well as non-profit organizations and major corporations.

The national media regularly depends on Wiseman as the expert on ethical leadership, bullying prevention, and school violence. She is a frequent guest on the Today Show and been profiled in the New York Times, People, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, USA Today, Oprah, Nightline, CNN, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio affiliates throughout the country.

We did a Twitter-stream “Ask the Expert” series for the first time – taking tweets from parents around the world.  I answer just a few questions from parents and educators following me on Twitter. 

• What do I tell my children about my past relationship with alcohol or other drugs?
• Does drug testing in schools work? 
• One father wants to know whether marijuana is addictive?
• Should we lower the drinking age?

We did a Twitter-stream “Ask the Expert” series for the first time – taking tweets from parents around the world.  I answer just a few questions from parents and educators following me on Twitter.

• What do I tell my children about my past relationship with alcohol or other drugs?
• One father wants to know whether marijuana is addictive?
• Should we lower the drinking age?
• How do I feel about random drug-testing in schools?

Julie Kahn-Schaye is the Program Director at Transition House in Boston, MA. Established in 1986 as the first program of its kind to introduce the issues of domestic and dating violence to youth in Massachusetts’s schools, the Dating Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) has become one of the most successful violence prevention programs in greater Boston.

Professor of Family Medicine Peter J. Carek, M.D. talks about teens and steroids.  How big is the problem?  What is the profile of the steroid using teen?  What are the signs and symptoms that parents, coaches, and educators should look for?  Finally, what are the short and long term consequences of teens using steroids.

Suggested Links:

Teens and Steroids

Welcome to my site.  I hope that your visit here indicates a shared passion for increasing effective alcohol and other drug prevention and intervention and health and well-being education – within ourselves and in our communities. 

This site is designed to provide you with a comprehensive introduction to my work and philosophy through media appearances, social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, articles, and samples of my workshops and lectures.   Topics include alcohol and other drug prevention and intervention, human sexuality, leadership development, in-service professional development for staff, and parenting education.

I encourage you to learn more about my staff and me through our biographical information and numerous student and adult testimonials.  We work with secondary schools, colleges and universities, community coalitions, non-profit institutions, parent groups, and associations around the world.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warmest regards,

Jeff

This is where the battle lines are drawn. This argument is played out in the homes of each student, faculty member, administrator and board member, and in the decisions that determine drug education program development and selection.

• Is the host (FOX News Anchor) making a good point about kids going crazy and getting in trouble in college who are away from their parents for the first time? How does your school address seniors transitioning to college? Is your information accurate about drinking? Are you talking about developmental grief as a more significant predictor of substance use?
• Dr. Peele says 50% of 21 year olds binge drink. He goes on to say we are not preparing them appropriately. What does he mean by that? Is it necessary for teens to drink to learn what an appropriate and healthy relationship with alcohol is?
• Can we use Europe as a model? How does culture determine a person’s relationship with alcohol?
• Ms. Fay says the best protective factors we have against teen addiction is to show teens the harm associated with drinking and other drug use and for society to not tolerate it. Is that true?

Ms. Fay says showing teens the harms associated with drinking and other drug use is one of the best protective factors against future addiction – did you hear that? What!!! Think about where drug education has been since the 70’s. We started with scare tactic movies – Blood on the Highway, Drink, Drive, Die! Reefer Madness. Then in the 80’s the approach was information-based drug education. Overwhelm students with drug-related information (often bias and not peer-reviewed) and they will choose a drug-free lifestyle. Sure? Everyone knows reducing calories and exercise daily will help you loose weight. Those pounds must be falling off you, right?

Links:

Drug-Free America Foundation
Dr. Stanton Peele’s Website

You may be interested in this old podcast I produced three years ago. The show “Fixing What’s Wrong with Drug Education”