Source: Palo Alto Online-Palo Alto Weekly Local students try out their artistic voices in two exhibits this month, jointly called “Youth Speaks Out.” Hosted by the Palo Alto Art Center and the Palo Alto City Hall, the show will feature oil and acrylic paintings, drawings and photos from March 9 through March 24 at both […]
by Charlotte Villemoes, LMFT Site Director at Woodside High School After years of challenging teen years my son has finally emerged again, and much to my delight I am discovering he was hiding a real human being in there, someone who is able to communicate and show some basic interest in other people, including his […]
Two studies have recently come out showing a higher prevalence of substance abuse and cigarette use amongst adolescents with mental health disorders. The first study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry revealed a significantly higher prevalence of substance abuse and cigarette use by adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity […]
by Katie Luce, LMFT Site Director at Redwood High School & Jordan Middle School This article is intended to educate parents and families about a serious issue affecting adolescents known as cyberbullying. My hope is to provide information, highlight some of the emotional issues that arise from cyberbullying, and offer suggestions regarding what families can […]
Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS) has long served the mental health needs of teens and their families on the Peninsula. In 1991, ACS launched the Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment (ASAT) Program to treat teens with substance abuse and dependency issues. In the past two years, the program has matured, encompassing multi-modal approaches to treatment for youth […]
According to the Monitoring the Future 2012 survey daily and regular use of marijuana remains consistently strong across all grades surveyed (8th, 10th, 12th). Even more alarming is that fewer students believe there is a risk in using marijuana; among 12th graders only 20.6% view occasional marijuana use as risky, and only 44.1% view daily […]
by Martha Chan, LMFT, Site Director for Terman Middle School I recently attended a workshop for therapists and social workers, and I mentioned to the woman sitting next to me that I work with teenagers in a school-based counseling program. She looked surprised and a bit uneasy, and asked, “How do you get them to […]
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 […]
With the holidays quickly approaching, many parents wonder how to survive this time of year with their troubled teens. Here are some words of advice from Adolescent Counseling Services’ experienced program directors: Roni Gillenson, LMFT On-Campus Counseling Program Director In my work with teens and families over almost 20 years, probably my favorite moments have […]
