Adolescent Counseling Services’ Resource Blog

The Art of Saying “No”

Image: Heather Wiliams JoAnn Kukulus, ACS Outpatient Counseling Services Intern During adolescence, a great deal of communication that is initiated from teens toward their parents entails a request for permission to engage in an activity (sleepover, concert, party, use the car, etc.) or acquire a desired object (new clothes, athletic equipment, video game, etc.). Responsible […]

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Stress management for beginners – and the rest of us!

Image: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho By Charlotte Villemoes, LMFT On-Campus Counseling Program Site Director, Woodside High School Every day, all of us experience some sort of stress. Most of the teens I meet in my private and professional life will at some point talk about how stressed they are; they talk about feeling overwhelmed by school demands, […]

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What is the Choking Game?

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. […]

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A Parent’s Guide to Teen Depression

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 […]

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

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 […]

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Part 1:Inside the Mind of a Youth Facing  Depression

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 […]

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