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Welcome
to July, 2006 "News of
Hope"
Summer is in full swing
- Kids are under foot
and off to camps,
families vacationing,
barbequing, spending
time having fun in the
sun... Idyllic
summertime!
Of course, summer can
also mean more idle time
and more alcohol and
drug use for teens with
time to spare and
boredom in the air.
Every one of us is going
to know a teen and a
family struggling with addictions
and alcohol issues. It's
today's reality. This
newsletter is to prepare
you with OPTIONS FOR
REHAB, Hope for Recovery
and care for those teens
you love.
We encourage you to
check out the
"Rehab Options for
Youth" page under
RESOURCES AND
NEWSLETTERS on our site.
We have reputable
resources in all parts
of the country listed to
consider for a teen you
are concerned about.
I had the pleasure of
speaking at the Hazelden
"Women Healing
Conference" in
Minneapolis in April and
toured their Adolescent
Rehab Facility. Top
notch! Lovely, woodsy
environment and positive
ambiance to give teens a
real chance at recovery.
This newsletter may open
your eyes to other
options for teens in
need of a
"clean"
academic environment,
where they can learn
without being burned by
peers who use and sell
under their noses.
And don't forget to
check out Al-Anon
meetings and literature
if someone else's
drinking is bothering
you - A safe, sane and
accepting environment to
work out the fears,
guilts, anguish, anger
and other feelings of
loving a teen, spouse,
parent, sibling or
friend with a
drinking/drug problem.
www.Al-Anon.Alateen.org
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Pictures
Below (l to r): A few rehab
faciliities and therapeutic
academic schools ready to help
families with troubled teens:
Hazelden's Adolescent Treatment
Facility, In-Balance Ranch
Facility for youth, and one of a
number of Aspen Education
Group's therapeutic boarding
schools
Check out Rehab
Options for Youth on the LEGACY
Website
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JULY 2006 NEWSLETTER OF HOPE
CONTENTS
• Sobriety High
• StepUP Program: Celebrating
Recovery in Community at
Augsburg College
• Using Science to Combat
Underage Drinking - Prevalence
and Scope of
Problem
• Promising Treatment
Interventions for Adolescents
• Resources on Underage
Drinking
Al-Anon Website - if someone's
drinking is bothering you. . .
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SOBRIETY
HIGH |
The
kids at Sobriety High
School are the ones who
dug themselves in early
and deep. In their
mainstream schools they
prepared to meet their
chemical health
counselors by getting
stoned. DARE looked to
them more like a
shopping list than a
warning. After getting
busted, tested,
court-ordered,
halfway-housed, and
hitting bottom any
number of other ways,
some of the hard cases
find themselves wanting
to get well. And that's
the main admission
criteria at Sobriety
High.
With branches in
Maplewood and Edina,
Sobriety High is a model
admired and now imitated
nationwide. It's a
private school with no
tuition. It is run as a
nonprofit corporation;
parents of students are
encouraged to donate
when possible, but
two-thirds of their
funding comes from state
grants. The formula for
success is simple and
straightforward: No one
here gets high.
Of course, more goes on
at Sobriety High than
good clean living. When
I dropped in to chat
with a group of seniors
in their social studies
class, they were in the
middle of getting an
education. The school is
accredited and graduates
get a diploma.
What I wanted to know
from them is which of
the galaxy of
drug-prevention efforts
had made a difference in
helping them get clean.
The short answer for
many of them was
"none."
"DARE gets you
interested in
drugs," said one
senior. Most of the
public school counseling
services received low
marks, too. "I
would get high,"
said one student,
"and go to my
appointment and tell him
I was high. He would
just say, 'How does it
feel?' He didn't try to
do anything."
Programs that actually
helped? "AA
works," several
students agreed. One
said she got turned
around in a halfway
house. While the
Cornerstone program
"didn't do a damn
thing" for one kid,
it received an honorable
mention with others. If
there's one thing about
which the students were
unanimous, it was the
"positive peer
pressure" at
Sobriety High. Everyone
is there voluntarily,
though some admit to
external pressures.
"I came here to
make my parents
happy," said one
student. Another
admitted that "it
looks good" on his
record when he appears
in court. Either way,
the first step of the
famous twelve starts all
the kids on the same
page: You can't get
sober until you think
you need to.
The most surprising
confession came from
what looked like one of
the toughest customers
in the room. A big kid,
he never sat in his
chair, only on the top
of his desk. His hands
rarely came out of his
pockets and his lower
lip looked as it he'd
spent several of his
tender years dipping
chew. "People that
care about you," he
said. "That's
what's different about
this place."
For
more information about
Sobriety High, click
here |
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StepUP
Program: Celebrating Recovery in
Community at Augsburg College
StepUP celebrates recovery in
community as a normal part of
personal growth. Students are
challenged to take
responsibility for themselves
and their decisions while
maintaining healthy respect for
the disease of chemical
dependency. The StepUP
residential community provides
students the opportunity to
practice living skills and
provides practical experience in
group decision-making and
interpersonal communication.
StepUP students join together
for mutual support and to help
one another access additional
opportunities outside of StepUP.
StepUP promotes the vision of
belonging and being at peace
with oneself, while respecting
the hard work of personal
growth. StepUP encourages
students to create friendships
and form bonds, some if which
will carry throughout a
lifetime. Students are
encouraged to be real, to care
about themselves and others, to
respect diversity, and to be
honest. StepUP works to create
an atmosphere where students
feel valued and safe.
The StepUP program offers"
-Separate chemical-free housing
accommodations, including
kitchens;
-Advocacy with faculty and staff
-Weekly individual support
meetings with the director or
assistant director
-Referrals to other campus
services for one-on-one
tutoring, instruction, etc
-Extracurricular team-building
and community activities, e.g.
camping, bowling, holiday
dinners.
Augsburg College is committed to
supporting students for academic
and personal success. The
readiness to learn is based on
the ability to be present
emotionally, and a welcoming
environment enhances the
student's't ability to be
successful in social,
educational, and occupational
pursuits. StepUP helps provide
the welcoming and supportive
environment for students in the
program. StepUP staff work with
other campus departments to
support educational achievements
and provide educational
opportunities for students to
discover their potential.
For
more information about Augsburg
College and the StepUP program,
click here |
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WHAT PARENTS
ARE SAYING ABOUT "52
Ways" --
"This
book provided so many concrete
tips to help diffuse some of the
tension and flare-ups in our
home. I learned that my body
language and communication
style
had a big impact on how my teens
reacted to me. We have a more
peaceful home and seem to really
“connect” with each other
now. The important thing is, my
kids know I’ll listen and that
I truly care. Thanks to “52
Ways”, I’m in a much better
position to protect my kids from
some of the very real dangers
out there."
Mother of 2 teens
BOOKS -
52 Ways to Protect Your
Teen continues to be an
invaluable, concrete
relationship and communication
building book for parents with
teens, school counselors and
grandparents.
Teen Power and Beyond is
a great choice for an
inspirational book for teens.
LEGACY OF HOPE®
on DVD gives you the
opportunity to share Susie's
dramatic and thought-provoking
message at home, in the
classroom, or pass it on to
friends and family.
Available
now at www.52waystoprotectyourteen.com
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Using
Science to Combat Underage Drinking
Prevalence/Scope of Problem
Statistics indicate that alcohol is
the drug of choice among adolescents.
Although some recent national surveys
have shown declines in drinking among
both younger and older adolescents,
alcohol remains intertwined with the
lives of most adolescents.
In addition, the prevalence of alcohol
dependence among adolescents and young
adults is much higher than for other
age groups. Research has found that
drinking often begins at a very young
ages. A 2004 survey found that 10
percent of youth ages 9 and 10 had
already started using alcohol. Another
study from the same year found that
nearly one-third of youth began
drinking before age 13.
Research shows that a number of
special populations are at particular
risk for drinking related problems.
Here are some prominent examples:
-Minority youth
-Children of alcoholics
-Military personnel between the ages
of 17 and 20
Addressing Excessive Drinking Among
College Students
-Combine cognitive-behavioral
skills with norms clarification and
motivational enhancement interventions.
Research indicates that combining
these three approaches can reduce
alcohol consumption in the college
population. The cognitive-behavioral
approach strives to change an
individuals dysfunctional thinking
about alcohol through activities such
as altering expectancies about
alcohol's effects. Norms clarification
uses real data about alcohol use on
campus to refute mistaken beliefs
about the extent of alcohol abuse
among students. Motivational
enhancement involves assessing an
individual's alcohol consumption and
offering personal feedback on one's
drinking behavior, as well as support
for decisions to change.
-Offer brief motivational
enhancement interventions.
Personalized motivational enhancement
sessions of about 45 minutes can
reduce alcohol consumption well as
several of the negative consequences
of drinking.
-Challenge alcohol expectancies.
In this approach, a combination of
information and experiential learning
functions to alter students'
expectations surrounding alcohol use.
The result is that the students come
to understand that drinking does not
produce some of the effects students
expect, such as sociability and sexual
attractiveness.
-Change aspects of campus and
community culture that support
excessive underage alcohol use.
Increase enforcement of minimum
drinking age laws; increase publicity
and enforcement surrounding laws
designed to deter alcohol-impaired
driving; restrict alcohol retail
outlet density in the immediate area
of a college and increase prices and
taxes on alcoholic beverages.
-Form a campus and community
coalition to facilitate implementation
of strategies to reduce alcohol use.
The advantage of such an approach is
that it reframes the issue of alcohol
use as a community wide problem,
bringing together a variety of
stakeholders in formulating solutions
and fostering teamwork.
Promising Treatment Interventions
for Adolescents
-Family therapies with both familial
and community components, such as
multidimensional family therapy and
multisystemic therapy, have shown
promise.
-Cognitive-behavioral therapies also
appear promising; these often can be
used in conjunction with family
therapies.
-Brief interventions also have shown
evidence of effectiveness in reducing
drinking and its negative consequences
among adolescents, particularly
motivational enhancement. In this
approach, the youth is encouraged to
take responsibility for change,
receives personalized assessment
results on the magnitude of his/her
problem behavior, receives advice and
works from a menu of change options.
Resources on Underage Drinking
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
www.niaaa.nih.gov
The Cool Spot, NIAAA's Website for
middle-schoolers
www.thecoolspot.gov
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of
America (CADCA)
www.cadca.org
StopAlcoholAbuse.Gov, federal resource
portal
www.stopalcoholabuse.gov
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and
Youth (CAMY)
http://camy.org
Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems
www.ensuringsolutions.org/"
Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol
Free
http://alcoholfreechildren.org
Underage Drinking Enforcement Training
Center
www.udetc.org
College Drinking: Changing the Culture
www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov
-From the Community Anti-Drug
Coalitions of America, in
collaboration with the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism.
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LEGACY
OF HOPE SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES AND
CONFERENCE KEYNOTE
Dramatic,
thought-provoking and life-enhancing
-
Theatrical one-woman presentation
addressing emotional intelligence
and how to make good choices.
Addresses real-world teen concerns
including alcohol and drug abuse,
excess stress, teen pregnancy,
gangs, AIDS, depression, bullying,
self-harm, suicide and violence.
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Encourages
teens to get help for emotional
turmoil BEFORE it leads to
destructive alternatives.
LEGACY OF HOPE - is THIS THE
YEAR to make a lifelong
difference?
Also, please forward this
newsletter to friends,
colleagues, parents, and others
who might find this information
useful. Help us carry our
message of hope and healing.
If you are receiving this
newsletter forwarded from a
colleague or friend, and would
like to continue to receive it,
please email us at news@legacyofhope.com
with subject subscribe.
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| CONTACT
SUSIE NOW!! |
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"Nobody
can go back and start a new
beginning, but anyone can start
today and make a new ending.”
-Maria Robinson
Wishing you well,
All of us at LEGACY
Susie Vanderlip - Ken Vanderlip
- Veronica Garcia - Keiko Trias
800-707-1977 |
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