4 Troubled Teens Blog

A joint effort by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice has resulted in the awarding of $32.8 million in grants through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative.

A July 15 press release provided the following information about the grant program:

The highly competitive Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative attracted 422 grant applications nationally.

Under the initiative, school districts, in partnership with local public mental-health agencies, law-enforcement and juvenile justice entities, must implement a comprehensive, community-wide plan that focuses on the following elements:

• Safe school environments and violence prevention activities
• Alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention activities
• Student behavioral, social and emotional supports
• Mental-health services
• Early childhood social and emotional learning programs.

The initiative received over 400 applications from across the United States. School districts in 18 states received grant money.

Naresh (not his real name) is 15-years-old and lives in Mumbai, India. According to an Aug. 24 Rediff Business article, Naresh spends eight to ten hours a day playing Internet-based computer games.

His parents have tried everything to get him to cut back, but attempts to cut access to the Internet or his computer have resulted in threats to run away or commit suicide. Writer Leslie D'Monte reports that Naresh is showing symptoms of being addicted to the Internet:

While mental health experts agree that the Internet has provided valuable service to people looking for support groups and treatment options through websites, newsgroups and email lists, they also caution that Internet surfing, gaming and texting can become an addiction akin to "being on drugs".

A survey of British Internet users, in fact, uses the term "discomgoogolation" to refer to a distressing condition, characterized by anxiety and stress at not being able to access the Internet.

These users showed changes in brain activity and blood pressure. An editorial last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry stated that internet addiction is a common compulsive/ impulsive disorder that should be added to the psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders which will be updated in 2012.

Though some parents may be hesitant to describe their children's computer obsessions as addictions, evidence is mounting to support the belief that people can, indeed, be addicted to video games and the Internet.

Australia has a new TV show aimed at straightening out troubled teenagers. Titled "World's Strictest Parents," the show sends teenagers around the world to live with no-nonsense parents for seven days. Cassandra McDonald of Zanesville, Ohio, was chosen as one of the "strict" parents.

An Aug. 23 article by Holly Richards of the Zanesville Times Recorder provided the following details:

McDonald knew she had her work cut out for her when Aza and Troy arrived in Zanesville on Aug. 11, but she also knew she could make a difference in their lives ...

"They looked so hugable and lovable and I gave them a big hug as soon as I saw them," McDonald said. "The coolest thing was when I looked into their eyes, I saw the heart of a child who wanted to be loved. I told them the (bad) things they've done is what you did, not who you are; you don't have to let it define you."

"Aza didn't want to leave, but we're going to talk back and forth," McDonald told the newspaper. "She'll be back around Christmas, and they both said they plan to move to America some day. It was a tiring, stressful week, but when you're affecting someone's life it's worth it. Love and the love of God can turn around anything."

Researchers at Temple University have found that teenagers who engage in heavy drinking are also more likely to smoke heavily.

Dr. Brian Daly and his colleagues used data from 2450 Philadelphia high school students in grades nine through 12. They asked the students how many cigarettes they smoked per day and how many times they had five or more drinks in a row during the last month, and found a link between binge drinking and heavy smoking.

"We can't just focus on educating adolescents about the dangers of smoking or drinking," Dr. Daly said in an Aug. 11 ScienceDaily article. "We need to address both as one health risk."

Dr. Daly's study was presented at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting.

Using reports from parents and teachers, a research team was able to predict which kindergartners would outgrow their mental problems and which were likely to develop severe mental problems by the end of elementary school.

"We did a phenomenal job of picking up those kids very early," said Dr. Marilyn Essex, lead author of the study. "Now those findings need to be replicated by others."

• Dr. Essex and her research team had mothers and teachers report mental symptoms of 328 children, starting in kindergarten through grade five.
• Some children acted out their symptoms through conduct problems, inattention, impulsivity, and aggression.
• Others internalized their symptom through depression and anxiety.
• The children who needed the most help by fifth grade were those who showed both internalizing and externalizing symptoms for at least two consecutive years.
• The children in the study are now 17 and 18 years old, and research is ongoing.

"We were able to tell in kindergarten and grade one which children were very likely to develop this pattern of mental health problems," Dr. Essex said. "We were able to predict quite well long-term patterns from early behavioral issues."

The study appeared in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Richmond County (Georgia) Juvenile Court Judge Willie Saunders has seen a lot of kids come through his courtroom. While he admits that he's saddened by what he's seen, he also admits that he isn't shocked.

Now, a new program called "Change Your Mind: One Degree at a Time" will aim to help kids turn their lives around.An Aug. 12 report on the website of NBC Augusta provided the following details about the program:

For 26 weeks, [Rev. Devon] Harris will work closely with troubled teens, finding out what their goals are, analyzing the positive and negative things in their lives, and try to get them back on the right track. ...

"It's basically to reprogram a young man. It goes 180 degrees backwards. It's war games helping teens figure out where they are going in life," said Harris.

The Richmond County program is slated to begin in September.

A new study finds that there could be advantages in teaching children resilience, positive emotions, and a sense of purpose -- advantages that include reducing the risk of teen depression. according to Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, children who have these positive qualities are less likely to be depressed and more likely to have higher grades:

An Aug. 7 press release provided the following details from Dr. Seligman's research:

• Dr. Seligman and his colleagues reviewed 19 studies begun in 1980 of more than 2000 children ages eight to 15 years old.
• Some of the children were enrolled in the Penn Resiliency Program and the Positive Psychology Program, programs that taught assertiveness, creative brainstorming, decision-making, relaxation, and other coping skills to help them handle everyday stress and problems common to adolescents.
• Dr. Seligman found that the programs reduced the children's sense of hopelessness, anxiety, and depression, and increased their enjoyment and engagement in school.

"It is important to start in the formative school years, so positive thinking and resilience are instilled and available to handle future challenges," Dr. Seligman said Aug. 8 during a presentation at the 117th annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

The two dozen teenagers sitting in Courtroom Eight of Tampa's George E. Edgecomb Courthouse had been arrested for different offenses, but were there for the same reason: They'd been given a second chance. They had been allowed to trade jail time and probation for a six-week program called "Shock Education."

St. Petersburg Times staff writer Amy Mariani reported on the program in an Aug. 7 article:

Shock Education is part of the countrys Juvenile Diversion Program and is designed to do more than scare delinquents straight. ... Boys and girls, ages 12 to 18, are referred to the program by different agencies -- juvenile court, probation offices, Department of Children and Families, school resource officers and parents.

Participants attend a variety of sessions on topics including gun violence and safe sex, Mariani reported. They meet teen moms, parents who lost teenagers to violence and peers who have been convicted of crimes. Teens can only attend the program once. If they are arrested again they will serve their original sentences.

As the global economic recession continues, states are being forced to slash an increasing number of community services to balance budgets. One the unintended consequences is that young people with mental illnesses are being treated in jail cells rather than counselors offices.

An Aug. 9 article by New York Times writer Solomon Moore provided the following details about the problem:

About two-thirds of the nations juvenile inmates -- who numbered 92,854 in 2006, down from 107,000 in 1999 -- have at least one mental illness, according to surveys of youth prisons, and are more in need of therapy than punishment.

"We're seeing more and more mentally ill kids who couldnt find community programs that were intensive enough to treat them," said Joseph Pen, a child psychiatrist at the Texas Youth Commission. "Jails and juvenile justice facilities are the new asylums."

Nearly 35 states have cut community mental health programs by an average of five percent, the Times reported, and many plan to double those reductions for the 2010 fiscal year.

Thanks to a federal grant and some creativity, Smithfield, Rhode Island, has seen a 13 percent decrease in underage drinking. The grant was part of a $12-million award given to Rhode Island to bolster the fight agains underage drinking and marijuana use.

Instead of doling out small amounts to every community, the state chose to focus on dividing the money among the top 14 communities with teen substance abuse problems, said Jeannie Vickers, coordinator of prevention services at Tri-Town Community Action Agency. (Source: The Providence Journal)

Vickers told the Journal that the Agency needed to generate some original ideas, knowing the state wanted more than just another "Just Say No" campaign. Instead, they created changes in law enforcement and ordinances related to underage drinking.

As the economic downturn continues to wreak havoc on state budgets, services are being cut and facilities closed. But Hawaiis latest cost-cutting move will end up helping area troubled teenagers. The Kulani Correctional Facility will be closed this year, and will re-open next year under new management as the Hawaii Youth Challenge Academy.

There, like at the Kalaeloa academy run by the Hawaii National Guard, high school dropouts spend an intensive 22 weeks working toward their GED and learning important life skills. ...

While young adults with the Youth Challenge Academy will head to the converted Kulani Correction Center, the move is actually an effort to keep kids out of prison. (Source: KNHL Channel 8)

Closure of the prison facility will save about $2.8 million, and most of that money will be used to help fund the $16,000 cost for a student to complete the Youth Challenge program, KNHL reported.

The Boys & Girls Club in Redwood City, California recently got some serious upgrades. Bright red paint, sound-dampening panels and a top-of-the-line audio recording system have transformed it into a digital multimedia center.

Laying down a hip-hop track or filming a documentary are only part of what the academy at the Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse is about. Club officials say troubled teens drawn by the opportunity to use the high-tech studio will get mentoring to help them stay out of trouble. -- Source: Mercury News (San Jose, CA)

The upgrades were made possible through a partnership with both the Peapod and Adobe Foundations. A $360,000 grant will fund the academy for three years, where young people will be able to receive training in video, audio, photography, design and art.