Greetings from CV Alliance

Hello, Allies!

Great news! Clay Roberts is coming back to town on Monday, May 19! He will speak about the transition to middle school from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Crescenta Valley High School auditorium in the 4400 block of Ramsdell Avenue in La Crescenta. We especially want to encourage parents of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students to attend. This event is free and open to the public. Remember: While we might not be facing middle school, we’re constantly facing change. Clay Roberts talked about the 40 Developmental Assets here last March. He is positive, upbeat and realistic. Mark your calendar and please help spread the word!

There is a six-part webinar series, “Girls Matter!” and if you’re interested in learning more about girls’ digital behavior, I’ve placed the link to their May 20 webinar on our website. Recently, I participated in the webinar about girls and substance use. What I found interesting is that it has taken this long to put a concerted effort together to distinguish between males and females, and the impact gender has on use and abuse. Girls deal more often with depression than boys. Girls also deal more often with sexual violence and eating disorders.  As a result, it is recommended that experts incorporate these traumas into therapy including ways to avoid and calm emotional triggers. One expert said dentists have ways to make patients feel safe and secure, so why wouldn’t treatment experts do the same thing? Getting the entire family involved is key, especially when parents’ own addiction is a factor in a child’s behavior and recovery.

Here’s some general information from that presentation: Binge drinking usually begins at age 18, and that makes sense because that’s when children leave home for college. For the first time, marijuana use in the past month was greater than cigarette use among 12 to 17 year olds! This can be attributed to the good job anti-tobacco activists have done to show the harm of smoking and the incorrect perception that marijuana is not harmful. Girls and boys have the same use patterns, but only 28% of people in treatment are girls. Most young people enter rehab through the court system; does this mean more boys are arrested than girls? Finally, people ages 12 to 17 enter rehab most often for marijuana abuse, ages 18 to 25 for prescription drug abuse, those 25 and older go to rehab for alcohol abuse.

CV Alliance is about prevention. We are grateful for your support.

Suzy Jacobs is the executive director of CV Alliance. You can reach her at suzy@cv-alliance.org.

  Suzy JACOBS