Mental Health | Page 12 | Adolescent Counseling Services

What is the Choking Game?

in Mental Health / Parent Tips / Parenting / Teen Peer Groups / Teen self-esteem / Uncategorized by Lindsey Leason February 18, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

By Beverly Reyes ACS Outpatient Counseling Services Intern Source: http://tweenparenting.about.com/od/healthfitness/f/ChokingGame.htm Question: What is the Choking Game? Answer: The choking game is a dangerous practice of tweens and teens in which they self-strangulate in order to achieve a brief high. The high is the result of oxygen rushing back to the brain after it’s cut off by the practice of strangulation. […]

A Parent’s Guide to Teen Depression

in Behavioral Norms / Depression / Mental Health / Parent Tips / Parenting by Lindsey Leason February 5, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

Source: http://www.pamfblog.org/ Meg Durbin, M.D. a board-certified internist and pediatrician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Although being moody and irritable is often normal for teenagers, depression is not simply a side effect of growing up. Depression is a serious medical condition that affects approximately one in five teens before they reach adulthood and is the leading […]

Part 2: Inside the Mind of a Youth Facing Depression: Recovery

in Depression / Mental Health / Teen Therapy by Lindsey Leason February 3, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

image: Laura Smith “How Fun” Continuation of “Part 1:Inside the Mind of a Youth Facing Depression” Note: This essay was authored by a local student to document a personal experience with depression. The writer, with parental support, was able to access professional help. Significantly, the author felt they could not share this experience openly, fearing […]

Part 1:Inside the Mind of a Youth Facing Depression

in Depression / Mental Health / Stigma by Lindsey Leason January 27, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

image: Carlos Perez “Teen Dreams” Note:This essay was authored by a local student to document a personal experience with depression. The writer, with parental support, was able to access professional help. Significantly, the author felt they could not share this experience openly, fearing stigma. I don’t know how it started, or how it took over […]

Conference on adolescent mental health & addiction – Menlo Park, 2/28, 9am-3:30pm

in Depression / Drugs & Alcohol / Mental Health / mental illness / Parent Education Session / Parent Tips / Sexuality / Upcoming Events by Aarika Riddle January 23, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

Adolescent Counseling Services‘ Executive Director, Philippe Rey, Psy.D., will be a keynote speaker at Parenting Teens Through the Challenges of Life: A conference on adolescent health and addiction. This conference will help you understand what adolescents deal with and provide information on helpful resources. The keynotes and afternoon workshops, led by experts in their fields, will discuss […]

The Poison of Perfectionism

in Academic Stress / Anxiety / Mental Health / Parent Tips / Parenting / Perfectionism by Lindsey Leason January 8, 2015January 27, 2022 0 comments

Image:CollegeDegree360 by Merrett Sheridan, LMFT, Site Director at Palo Alto High School “I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed” – Michael Jordan “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly” – Robert F. Kennedy At Adolescent Counseling Services at PALY, the most common issue […]

Do Not Expect a Stress Free Holiday Season

in Anxiety / Parent Tips / Parenting / Stress / Teaching Mindfulness / Teens and holidays / Uncategorized by Lindsey Leason December 23, 2014January 27, 2022 0 comments

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, […]

Internet Gaming Addiction: Perspectives From a Former Gamer

in Gaming Addiction / Internet gaming disorder / Risky Behaviour by Lindsey Leason December 9, 2014January 27, 2022 0 comments

Image:Federico Morando “internet addiction” By: Evan Sahn After-School Counseling Program Intern Internet gaming disorder (IGD) represents a relatively new and growing phenomenon in the fields of mental health and video games. IGD is new largely because the ability to utilize the Internet to play addicting video games has only existed for about 15 years. In […]

Executive Function and Substance Use

in Adolescent Brain / Behavioral Norms / Drugs & Alcohol / Mental Health / Risky Behaviour by Lindsey Leason November 18, 2014January 27, 2022 0 comments

Image: CC0 Public Domain By: JoAnn Kukulus, MS Clinical Psychology; MFT Intern ACS Outpatient Counseling Services I went to the gym, got the kids off to school, walked the dog, and am now ready to head to work on time. As I’m reaching into the refrigerator to grab my lunch I receive a phone call from the […]

Opinion:Destigmatize Counseling in the Palo Alto Community

in Academic Stress / Anger Management / Behavioral Norms / Co-Occuring Disorders / Depression / Disorders / Grief / Mental Health / mental illness / Post Traumatic Stress Disorder / Risky Behaviour / Self-Harm / Sleep / Social Anxiety / Stigma / Stress / Suicide / Teen Peer Groups / Teen self-esteem by Lindsey Leason November 13, 2014January 27, 2022 0 comments

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 […]