I write this blog for the SBFC community not only as a parenting coach, but as a mother who has lived through the invisible struggles many teens face. My middle child was long described as “fine” … social, capable, and bright … yet quietly overwhelmed by anxiety that went unrecognized for years. 

Here’s how you can support your child’s use of AI in healthy, balanced ways.

As a mother of two teens and the wife of a sober alcoholic, the idea of my kids and their friends abusing alcohol or messing with other substances terrifies me more than anything else. Period. The parents who serve alcohol to minors, to my own kids, makes me crazy.

SBFC is excited to announce that Ann Marie Whitney and Angela Bennett will be leading our Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) in the 2025 - 2026 school year!!!

If you’re a college senior who’s aspiring to 4-year college, it’s the day all the waiting and wondering is finally over. Because by April 1, all colleges release their admissions decisions for next fall’s freshman class. 

If you’re one of those high school seniors, I hope you have options that excite and inspire you!

But this message isn’t for you. 

I’m writing to your younger siblings, friends, classmates, cousins, and the associated grown-ups who’ve been watching your college adventure unfold from the sidelines and are starting to wonder, and perhaps worry: How can I make sure I have college options that excite and inspire me?

As I think of my young son’s future, I often consider, “What can I do, given the risks today’s teens face, to bolster him now?” Having a 20-year old who survived a tumultuous adolescence, and a 6-year old in the heart of innocence has its advantages. I’m wiser, maybe, but more importantly, humbled.

I’ve been learning a lot about anxiety lately. Maybe this was sparked during Covid when everyone was feeling heightened levels of anxiety. Maybe because everyone was talking about anxiety. Maybe because I was witnessing anxiety firsthand in my home and in my bubble

What's life like as a parent, after a storm of teen mental illness? A year out from high school graduation, a year of college complete, people ask me, “How’s your daughter?” As the mother of a girl who has faced multiple mental illness crises and diagnoses, who no one knew if she would survive, let alone graduate high school or be off to college, my favorite thing to say is, “Good! She’s moving to Paris in the fall to study abroad.” 

What could have been. We use that phrase to round up to outcomes we’ve hoped for, or we add it to cushion ourselves from some uncomfortable truth. This week, we wonder what could have been if our community had not responded so assertively and positively to a threat to our childrens’ safety.

My daughter is a brand new college freshman. I joined a Facebook group for parents of her university. It has amazingly helpful content. In the first few weeks of school it also seems to have a zillion (I exaggerate) parents posting about how their child is “living their best life” and “thriving”. I’m now as sick of those descriptors as I was of “pivot” during the height of Covid.

We thank the members of our Families Connected Parent Advisory and participants in our Families Connected Parent Chat for recently meeting and discussing their lived experience around giving their children devices and access to social media. Their hope, and ours, is to help parents and caregivers avoid the negative mental health and behavioral impact premature introduction of smart phones can drive. 

In my role as the Director of the Juvenile Diversion Project, I have seen our youth push each other down with hateful and disparaging comments, both online and in person.

On the surface, I was a Straight A student athlete who went on to study at Princeton, but underneath that facade lurked a raging case of self-loathing. My heart aches for my younger self, who titled a journal entry in 1987, my first year of high school, “Fatness and Self-Hate.”

Tears blur a clear view of the meeting screen. The psychiatrist is neatly but casually dressed in a black long sleeve crewneck. He’s sitting in his home office, which, I think, is probably also his bedroom. His mouth is moving and his words trail, a lip sync error, or my mind’s resistance to take it in. I watch his mouth stop moving and wait for the sound to catch up. “I’m not the kind of doctor who shies away from this just because the child is not eighteen. If they are prescribed according to an incorrect diagnosis, the meds can be harmful.” Thud. My heart to the floor. 

It is important during the stressful holiday season to unplug and reconnect with loved ones. Below, we have outlined many ways to do just that through acts of kindness and giving, enjoying the many beautiful South Bay attractions, going device-free, brushing up on social skills at home, doing a family movie night and taking advantage of the many holiday events in the South Bay.

“Be honest -what do you think of me when I tell you I am alcoholic? Do you picture me sloshed at 10:00 am? In a dirty bathrobe? Being handcuffed for a DUI? Shrieking and slurring at my family? Do you think I am unemployable? Slovenly, watching TV all day?”

We felt so isolated and in the dark as we struggled to save our teenager. Looking back, I can see which strategies made the difference. Surprisingly, some of our best choices were accidental. I hope this gives you relief when you hear that terrible whisper of self-doubt, “am I doing the right thing?” There are no right answers, but here are five things that helped us along our son’s road to recovery.