First Time Visitors - parents of teenage drug abusers and/or Juvenile Court Youth Posted by:Ken Sutton--Monday, December 10, 2001

This blog is a place to share with you what other parents have learned as a result of the substance abuse problems of their teenagers. These teenagers can be extremely difficult to deal with and parents need all the help they can get at a time when it is difficult or embarrassing to ask for help.

The Allegheny County Juvenile Probation Office sponsors a meeting on the first 3 Saturdays of each month where you can tap into a wealth of knowledge many parents have found to be extremely valuable. If your child is not in the court system you are invited to learn the skills that may help keep them out or to learn how getting them into the system can be instrumental in saving your child’s life. If your child is in the system you are invited to learn the skills to help your child save his/her life. In any case, you are welcome to review this blog to see if there is information here that can help you and your child.

There are no quick fixes at the meeting. This is not a 12 step program. Many parents find attending a NARANON group or POTADA meeting helpful as well.

If you are a first time visitor to this site we recommend that you read some of the role plays and then come to the next meeting.

If you have been coming to the meeting we recommend that you review the site, read the role plays and consider writing a post for the site – something from your perspective that could help other parents. What you have learned. What you wish you knew.

Everyone is welcome to leave comments. Comments are moderated so they will not immediately show on the blog but usually by the next time a reader visits the blog the comments will have appeared. There is a box to the right of this post where you can insert your email address, which allows you to receive email whenever there is a change made to the blog.

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What are the role plays and how can they help me with my problem teen? Posted by:Ken Sutton--Sunday, December 09, 2001

In our meetings we use role playing to work on real problems that parents are currently having. It turns out that a lot of the problems we have with our teens are common to all parents and they just occur at different times (take a look at the role plays posted here back to 2004 to see what I mean). Watching others play out a problem you have been having with your child can be very enlightening. Likewise, playing the part of your child and seeing how other parents handle you is very instructive.

There is an opportunity to discuss the role play and to do it over with different approaches as suggested by other parents and probation officers (who have years of valuable experience). Having the ability to share these experiences really makes a difference when the situation occurs in your home with your teen.

Note, no one is required to participate in the role plays.

These role play links are to the text of the summaries written up by the probation officer after each meeting. They give you a good flavor of how the meeting is conducted.

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