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Family & Home Life

Can TV Shows Help Teens Struggling with Depression and Other Mental Health Issues?

A University of California – Los Angeles Study Says “Yes, They Can” When adults involved in the lives of teens talk about the relationship between television and mental health, their default starting position is often negative. This may derive from the fact that when most parents of teens were young, they heard their parents say things like “too much TV will rot your brain” and “you need to get out

November 5, 2021

Family & Home Life

Drugged Driving Rivals Dangers of Drunk Driving

Drugged driving doesn’t get as much national attention as drunk driving, but it’s every bit as dangerous. Like alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs impair teens’ ability to drive safely and are part of the reason motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of death among young people. Experts warn that legalization may make the problem worse, leading teens to buy into common misconceptions like: “If it’s legal, it can’t be

August 17, 2021

Mental Health Awareness Month 2021: Tools 2 Thrive Phase Two

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. At the beginning of 2020, no one could have predicted where we are now, almost halfway through 2021. We faced the worst public health emergency in a hundred years: the coronavirus pandemic. Physical health and wellbeing were our first priority all year, which was critical for getting the pandemic under control. Citizens around the country made enormous sacrifices and did their best to mitigate

May 10, 2021

National Prevention Week 2021: How to Prevent Teens From Using Drugs

National Prevention Week (NPW) was established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to encourage schools, communities, and organizations to raise awareness about preventing adolescent substance use and mental health issues. This year, National Prevention Week is May 9-15. National Prevention Week occurs every May – towards the end of the school year – so that it stays fresh in students’ minds as they begin summer vacation.

May 6, 2021

How Do Teachers Feel About Returning to Virtual Teaching?

The Santa Monica Unified School District (SMUSD) will resume classes via distance-learning this year. For Ms. Orah Gidanian, a special-education instructor at the Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH), this makes sense. “While I am definitely nervous thinking about how this will impact our students’ academic futures and their families, I didn’t see how we could open up safely. I glanced at all the regulations that would be required to

August 10, 2020

Topics in Treatment: Treatment and Recovery Legislation, Part Three – The SUPPORT Act

In Parts One and Two of our series on treatment and recovery legislation, we discussed The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the 21st Century Cures Act, respectively. We introduced the series by offering a brief description of the events that led to the opioid crisis, which led to the passage of three significant articles of legislation by Congress to address the crisis. CARA was the first of those

February 14, 2020

Topics in Treatment: Treatment and Recovery Legislation, Part Two – The 21st Century Cures Act

In Part One of our series on treatment and recovery legislation, we discussed The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). We introduced that piece by offering a brief description of the events that led to the opioid crisis, which led to the passage of three significant articles of legislation by Congress to address the crisis. CARA was the first of those three. In this article, we’ll discuss the second, The

February 13, 2020

Topics in Treatment: Treatment and Recovery Legislation, Part One – The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA)

If you pay attention to national media, you know all about the opioid crisis – also called the opioid epidemic – that’s happening right now in the U.S. If you don’t follow the news and have never heard of the opioid crisis, it’s time to catch up – even if, from your perspective, it has not affected you in any way. It’s important to know the facts, because the crisis

February 12, 2020

The Positive Effect of Parenting Programs on Economically Disadvantaged Families

The Legacy Program: Centers for Disease Control Between 2001 and 2009, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia conducted a long range study on one of its key child and family development efforts – Legacy for Children – in order to gauge its effect on the social, behavioral and cognitive development of children born into economically disadvantaged families. Most of the families in the study had a yearly income at

March 9, 2019

Delayed High School Start Times in Seattle: Positive Outcomes

In the 2016-2017 school year, the Seattle Public School District took a risk. Based on policy recommendations published in a 2014 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), district officials implemented a system-wide delay in high school start times. Here’s the AAP claim that triggered the change: “[We] recognize insufficient sleep in adolescents [is] an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as

March 2, 2019

Public Policy