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Quote of the Week
"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way" ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
In March 2016, as part of wider Administration efforts to
expand access to treatment for people with mental health and substance use
disorders, President Obama authorized creation of the Mental Health and Substance
Use Disorder Parity Task Force. The Task Force will focus key Federal agencies
on the work of ensuring that Americans receive the coverage and treatment that
they need. More information on the task
force can be found here.
The Task Force wants to hear from patients, families,
consumer advocates, health care providers, insurers, and other stakeholders on
their experiences and/or difficulties with accessing mental health and
substance use services and coverage. Share your comments, experiences, and
recommendations with the Task Force. Or, submit your comments by
sending an email to parity@hhs.gov. The Task Force will present its findings and
recommendations in a report to the President by October 31, 2016.
Read More......
The National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) reports the following:
- People who began using addictive substances before
age 15 are nearly 7 times likelier to develop a substance problem than
those who delay first use until age 21 or older
- Every year that substance use is delayed during the
period of adolescent brain development, the risk of addiction and
substance abuse decreases
Can making a
pact with your child encourage him/her to stay off drugs? Jim Huger, founder of Parents and Children
Together (PACT), believes that it can.
Click here to read about his proactive rewards-based approach to keeping children off
drugs.
This post is
not intended to be a recommendation for subscribing to the service that Jim
Huger created, since at this time I am not personally aware of anyone using it. Instead, it presents a concept that could be
of interest to many parents of pre-teens and teens.
Read More......
Due to scheduling conflicts, there will NOT be a PSST meeting on Saturday, May 21st in Greentree.
Please consider joining us for our next meeting on Saturday, June 4 in Wilkinsburg!
Read More......
The cake says it all . . .
Thanks for your support, wisdom and guidance over the years!
Read More......
Good Luck, Abby!
Posted by:Jenn--Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Come join us at the next PSST meeting, to wish Abby success in whatever her future brings her - she is moving to Colorado!!
Our meeting will be on Saturday, April 16, at the usual location for that date (Sts Simon and Jude Church on Greentree Road).
Read More......
Click here to read an article by Cathy Taughinbaugh about
the common mistakes that parents make when they realize their child is using
drugs. This is not a list meant to “shame”
parents! They are called “common”
mistakes because they are the kind of things that parents instinctively do, often
with the best of intentions, but sometimes unknowingly. So let’s start by identifying those actions/thoughts. By perusing this list, parents (and other
loved ones) may realize that they need to start (or stop) doing certain things,
because those actions may be hurting themselves, as well as their relationship
with their child.
Here are a few examples from the list:
- Feeling
that your child’s drug use is a teen rite of passage that they will grow out
of.
- Continuing
to worry constantly about things you can’t control and making yourself
miserable.
- Feeling
guilty for something you didn’t cause.
- Never
praising or rewarding for what your child does right, because after all, he is
using drugs.
- Not
allowing your child to take responsibility for the consequences of their use.
- Waiting too
long to get outside help, because you think you can handle it.
Read More......
It's Only Pot
Posted by:Jenn--Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Today’s parents may have mixed thoughts about their teenagers' use of marijuana. They may have personal
memories of smoking pot when they were growing up, or they may have had friends
who smoked, yet all of them (well, most of them) grew up to be responsible
adults. So why don’t their children deserve
this same rite of passage, while their parents “look the other way”?
To add to this dilemma that parents face, the legalization
of medical and recreational marijuana in various states raises even more questions
about what behavior is acceptable.
Click here for an article by Dr. Jim Mastrich, who discusses the significantly increased
potency of today’s marijuana, and the implications of that for the teenagers
who are using it. Below is a quote from
the article:
High school kids who are “experimenting” with today’s
marijuana are much less likely to know how to manage the effects of such a
powerful substance and are likely to bite off more than they can chew.
Click here for an article that discusses the impact of the decriminalization of marijuana
on current attitudes about the drug. Many
experts believe that use of marijuana will increase significantly if people believe
that it’s safe for anyone to use. A
quote from the article:
People forget that marijuana can be addictive. It actually
changes the physical chemistry within your brain.
Read More......
Remember when synthetic marijuana, also called K2 or Spice, was all the
rage? And it turned out to be a hallucinogen
that was eventually banned under federal law?
There’s a new kid on the block called kratom, an herbal supplement that may
be brewed and served in drinks, or purchased as a powder in convenience stores
or on the internet. Click here to read an article from the New York Times that describes the emergence of this
new drug. Below is a quote from this article:
“Some users embrace kratom as a natural
painkiller and benign substitute for more dangerous substances that, in most
states, is legal. But its growing popularity and easy availability are raising
concerns among substance abuse experts and government officials who say it is
being furtively marketed as a way out of addiction, even though it is itself
addictive. Worse, some of those experts say, kratom can lead some addicts back
to heroin, which is cheaper and stronger.”
Read More......
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