One of the challenges we face as a leadership team is to resist the ever present option of seeking easy answers to complex problems. This is especially true in instances where we run up against criticism or outright defamation.
The open-mindedness that a program of recovery espouses makes it important to sift through each separate situation without being hasty to attach a label or to prejudge. While we recognize that no organization can control the discussions that take place concerning it, it none the less remains important to partake in those discussions where and when they are approached with a level of mutual respect, even when recognizing the disagreements.
Often when working with our students that are facing a difficult stretch, we advise some of the slogans: “keep it simple” and “do the next right thing.” It’s not a surprise that following our own directives is having a positive effect.
As always, the leadership team of the Family Foundation School is open to meet with past alumni or individuals who would like to discuss any issues they may have with their experiences while attending the school.
Shrink Wrap blog shares an interesting post concerning a study that links teen drinking to behavioral problems.
“Forty-three per cent of students who reported behavioral or other problems also reported having been drunk more than 10 times in their lives, while only 27 per cent of students who reported few or no conduct problems had been drunk more than 10 times. But boys were only slightly more likely than girls to report drinking heavily.”
The difficulty parents have assessing the level of problem that substance abuse is causing for their troubled teen is well known. Knowledge that such a link between behavioral problems and drinking exists can help parents to disentangle the complexity of the riddle they are facing. The post notes:
“it may be particularly important to focus on teens with attention and conduct problems and girls with anxiety and depression.”
It speaks to our experience that the specific indicators of difficulty for troubled teen girls surrounding depression include a vulnerability to expressive drinking and substance abuse.
- Image by YlvaS via Flickr
An recent article on US News and World Report explores an interesting study concerning teen depression and television usage:
“So, Brian Primack, a pediatrician at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who studies how teenagers’ use of media affects their health, analyzed survey data that followed 4,142 teenagers from 1995 to 2002. Teenagers who watched TV were more likely to report symptoms of depression, with the rate increasing 8 percent with every hour of TV watched.”
The needs of teens when it comes to depression are diverse, and one thing this study may be picking up on is the tendency for depressed individual to seek an escape from their problems. For parents, its an interesting potential indicator to consider when monitoring the overall health of a child, especially struggling teens who seem prone to depression.
Ripples
