This article is really a love story about my profession of working with adolescents and my role being a mother, which is so central and important to who I am…and the challenge of bridging the two roles at times. We have one child at MBMS and two at Pacific Elementary. As a therapist in a small community, it is tricky to open...
Read MoreGreetings to all you SBFC parents out there! I have a difficult confession to make: I once was a helicopter parent. In my defense, ten years ago when my husband’s and my two oldest kids were teens, books with titles like, How to Raise an Adult, Grit, and The Gift of a Skinned Knee, did not dominate the parenting sections of bookstores across the country, or make the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list...
Read MoreI believe that growing up with a sibling who was an addict provides me a unique perspective to share with Families Connected. The decade or so of unfathomable turmoil that my family faced in dealing with my brother, Justin’s, addiction, ended tragically with his death due to a drug overdose this past January.
Read MoreThis is our story of sending our oldest son off to a wilderness program because we felt his addictive behavior would eventually threaten his life and at minimum, derail whatever future he could have planned. As he recently told us, he thinks we saved his life.
Read MoreWe are so thankful that Howard Barker of Clear Recovery Center was able to make it to our most recent book club where we discussed American Girls: Social Media and The Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales. Click here for a brief summary of what was discussed in the meeting.
Read MoreCyndi Strand of Manhattan Beach shares with SBFC the tragic story of her son Justin's ongoing struggle with addiction, and ultimately, his death in January of this year. "So now I find myself at my final chapter of my blog about our family and the demons of drugs. The havoc that is brought into the family: the fear, the sadness, the anger, and the bewilderment is paralyzing. I will briefly continue the story of our descent into the abyss of drug addiction and then offer you my thoughts looking back."
Read MoreTo those who attended the 5Ws of Teen Drug & Alcohol Use event at MBMS, thank you for coming and sharing your thoughts with Families Connected by completing the survey. Click here to read more and learn about the three biggest takeaways that parents shared with us in the survey.
Read MoreSo much swirling in my head over the Stanford swimmer rape case. So many social and moral issues all wrapped into one tragic story. I find myself embarrassed and guilty because when I read about the case months ago and saw the headline, "Stanford, Olympic hopeful, rape" I thought to myself, how very sad...that poor boy's life is ruined, a stupid mistake. I didn't really give much thought or pay attention to the rest of the story. How very wrong.
Read MoreCyndi Strand of Manhattan Beach shares with SBFC the tragic story of her son Justin's ongoing struggle with addiction, and ultimately, his death in January of this year. "What is interesting to me as I look back to the high school years, is that I remember thinking that every family I knew was completely ‘normal’ and that my family was not. I felt so alone as we started our struggle with a child who was experimenting with drugs. I didn’t want to share with anyone this ‘ugly thing’ taking hold in my otherwise ‘normal’ home. So, as in our case, we attempted to deal with it on our own, quietly."
Read MoreCyndi Stand of Manhattan Beach shares with SBFC the tragic story of her son Justin's ongoing struggle with addiction, and ultimately, his death in January of this year. Cyndi is writing this three part series, "Not to scare you but to make you wiser and more alert. I want no one to suffer the loss we have had to endure."
Read MoreWondering what to do with your unused prescriptions? Participate in National Drug Take Back Day and safely dispose of your medications!
Read MoreI recently attended a MCHS Families Connected event, a presentation by Jonathan Scott of Miles to Go Drug Education. He firmly believes that the majority of teens want to please their parents and that by following a few key steps, parents can dramatically reduce the likelihood that their teens will be harmed by drug and alcohol use. So what are those steps?
Read MoreFor those of us with students in the middle of the college admissions process, March Madness has a whole new meaning! If you’ve got a senior, you're consumed with worry about coming college admissions decisions, all of which are released by April 1. I’d like to offer a different perspective, one based on my own children’s experiences and the experiences of the many students I’ve college-counseled over the years.
Read More"I grew up in the South Bay. My husband and I have been married almost three decades. We have two kids in college, wonderful friends, and a beautiful home in Manhattan Beach. We’re 'living the dream.' In my experience the drinking began for our son sophomore year in high school....
Read MoreI recently found out that kids who get arrested in Manhattan Beach for a misdemeanor, like having a party where minors are served or using a fake ID, are given the chance to be diverted from the juvenile court system to the office of Manhattan Beach City Prosecutor, Joan Stein Jenkins...
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