Resolving Conflict in Your Family

Written By: Samantha Rivas, Clinical Intern at ACS, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program don’t let your neighbors fool you: we all have family conflict. Whether it’s between the parents, parent/child, sibling/sibling, or some other relative, family conflict exists for every unit, and it is stressful.  Conflict between family can come up for multiple reasons. Maybe […]

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Anxiety: How to Help your Teen Cope

Written By: Antonina Taranova, Trainee at ACS, On-Campus Counseling Program what should parents know about anxiety? One in five adolescents may develop an anxiety disorder over the span of their adolescence. Such anxiety disorders can have a dramatic impact on the daily life of children and constitute a risk factor for more severe mental disorders […]

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Back to School: Managing Stress

Written By: Samantha Rivas, Clinical Intern at ACS, Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program The alarm goes off. It’s time to pick out what to wear, get to school on time, see both new and familiar faces, get an excess amount of academic assignments, attend after-school programs, and juggle the obligations between family, friends, school, work, […]

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Understanding Family Conflict and Learning How to Find Peace

Written By: Tarra Symons, AMFT at ACS, On-Campus Counseling Program What comes to mind for you when you hear the phrase “family conflict?” Do you think of words like friction, strife, hostility, frustration, falling-out, and shouting? These are all possibilities, but these approaches to managing disagreements within a family make finding resolutions very challenging. Developing […]

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Why Do Our Teens Use Cannabis (and What Can We Do About It)?

Written By: Ingrid Ammondson, PhD, Program Director, ACS’ Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Program Any of you who have attended parent education seminars at your school or at Adolescent Counseling Services already know that adolescence is an exciting (and sometimes dangerous) time of physiological, psychological, and spiritual growth. So much so that we might imagine placing […]

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Understanding and Managing Student Stress

Written By: Dara Gray Tynefield, AMFT at ACS, On-Campus Counseling Program Eustress vs. Distress For our students, the excitement of a new school year often gives way to a full routine of classwork, homework, extracurriculars, sports, clubs, arts, friends, family, jobs… and while the positive stress of a full and productive schedule is not inherently […]

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Tech-Positive Parenting

Written By:  Deborah Sloss, LCSW, ACS Site Supervisor, On-Campus Counseling Program   Teenagers today are constantly “plugged in”– gaming, texting, tweeting, or posting on Snapchat and Instagram.  As parents, we worry that our kids are addicted, detached, and distracted by their digital devices.  We struggle with how to set appropriate limits and how to keep […]

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Technology and Teen Dating

Written By:  Sarah McLaughlin, LMFT, Site Supervisor, ACS On-Campus Counseling Program Teen relationships can often seem mysterious in this digital age. It’s not always easy for a parent to ascertain the nature of their child’s relationships or to keep track of the ups and downs that take place during these romantic relationships. How are teens […]

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Why Talk About Depression?

Written By:  JoAnn Kukulus, MFTi, Site Coordinator, ACS On-Campus Counseling Program Why do we need to talk about teen depression? What do we need to know? What can we do for our adolescent children? Fewer than 40% of the teens diagnosed with depression get treatment. The numbers are staggering: an estimated 1 in 5 adolescents […]

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