Dear ,

School is almost out! Kids are graduating (THEY MADE IT!! CELEBRATE!). Much needed R&R is right around the corner for
hardworking educators and counselors, and the keep-the-kids-busy period awaits you parents.

For us at LEGACY, it's a busy May and June. LEGACY OF HOPE will be the keynote for a Women Healing Conference on
May 22 in West Palm Beach, Florida - sponsor Hazelden Foundation; A Conference for Women in Palm Springs, CA on
June 7th for Ben Franklin Institute; a 20th Anniversary Celebration for Bellwood Health Services on June 12 in Toronto,
Canada; an assembly for Richland Continuation High School in Orange, CA; and Project ENRICH for teachers on June 17
from the Monongalia County School District in West Virginia.

If you have an interest in attending any events, give us a call 800-707-1977.

Since our last newsletter, LEGACY OF HOPE and I have toured from Davis, California to the north country of New York and back! UC Davis Athletic Dept took advantage of our NCAA Approval, receiving a $500 rebate for the drug and alcohol education of athlete's presentation.

California schools: Bella Vista HS in Fair Oaks, Upland HS in Upland and Ontario HS in Ontario were wonderful hosts to LEGACY OF HOPE assemblies.

The Eastern Adirondack Medical Care Network hosted several middle school, high school and community-parent presentations in the Plattsburgh, Chazy and Lake Placid, New York. See fun and beautiful photos on our website!

My new book, TEENS FROM THE INSIDE OUT, is at the editor!! We will let you know when it is available.

Advance reading from a couple parents gives us much excitement about its upcoming release. One parent of both a 12 and 14 year old said that as she read the book, not only could she not put it down, she was thrilled to be able to ask her preteen & teen what they thought of various messages. It opened up an incredible number of important conversations she hadn't known how to start before!

All in all, many teens and their parents have connected through LEGACY OF HOPE this year; and we are honored by the work. We THANK everyone who has attended, booked or simply given a positive thought to our outreach this past school year.

Important work is left to be done, including alerting you to
CURRENT TEEN ISSUES below:

WHAT TICKS INSIDE A TEENAGE BRAIN?

Advice in the article included “Rules for Parents” from Laurence Steinberg’s “The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting.” Some of those rules included:
1. What parents do matters, 2.You can’t be too loving. 3. Stay involved. 4. Adapt your Parenting (As a teen’s brain grows and reasoning improves, they will challenge you if you aren’t making sense!) 5. Set limits. 6. Foster independence. 7. Explain your decisions. And, of course, it never hurts to pray!

This article and picture(modified) are from TIME Magazine, May 10, 2004.

TEEN DEPRESSION CAN AFFECT ADULT HAPPINESS
DEPRESSION – A RAMPANT TEENAGE MALADY

The amount of self-reported depression among teens in our Survey of Hope (administered after assemblies across the country) is disturbing. Just this past March and April 2004, we found results on surveys that demand attention. In upstate New York, middle school and high school teens reported alarming rates of depression:

According to research conducted by psychologist Peter Lewinsohn, Ph.D., adults who experienced any kind of manic-depressive disorder (MDD) during their adolescence are likely to demonstrate pervasive psychological impairment as adults.

941 men and women from Oregon, were assessed twice: the first time during their adolescence and again at 24. The study looked for psychiatric disorder during adolescence, the recurrence of depression in early adulthood, psychological functioning in adolescence, and depression level at the time of the adult assessment.

According to Lewinsohn, “The research suggests that depression in adolescence indicates a broad, lasting tendency toward psychosocial problems that should be seen as a serious, stand-alone risk factor.”

“We know that there are certain things that predispose people to being depressed, like being pessimistic, and now we’re seeing there are traits like this evident after a depressive episode that weren’t there before the depression. It’s a scar [that] can affect a person throughout their life.”

Lewinsohn concluded by saying, “People that have been diagnosed as depressed in adolescence should be watched for new signs of depression and should be taught to identify signs that they may be becoming depressed again. More importantly though, knowing there are lifelong implications after a bout of depression makes prevention crucial.”

We at LEGACY urge you, if you suspect your teen is developing an "attitude" after a significant loss, a family change like divorce, death or a move, or just a series of disappointments, consider the possiblilty that they are depressed. Speak to a counselor asap. It can affect their whole life and their future.
Article from the American Psychological Association’s, Monitor on Psychology, September 2003

ADD SUICIDE WARNINGS TO ANTIDEPRESSANT LABELS, FDA ASKS

The Food and Drug Administration has asked drug companies to re-label 10 widely used antidepressants to add strong warnings that patients should be watched for suicidal behavior and anxiety. This came after an advisory panel recommended stronger label warnings to the FDA on February 2nd because parents said that antidepressants caused their children’s suicides. Russell Katz of the FDA’s neuropharmacology division said, ‘The FDA doesn’t know whether those pills cause suicide, or it may be just a natural course of the disease.’

James McGough, UCLA psychiatrist, says, “The drugs might be safer for adults than for kids. Impulse control often isn’t as well developed in children as it is in adults, so parents need to be alerted about hyperactivity. But I hope this doesn’t scare doctors away from prescribing antidepressants.”

Many mental health experts applauded the FDA for taking this action, however they feel that the agency has not gone far enough to protect the kids. To add to this comment, Harold Koplewicz, director of the New York University Child Study Center said, “It’s a step in the right direction, because the better informed doctors and parents are, the better care kids get.”

The FDA has asked Columbia University researchers to review studies on kids who take SSRI antidepressants. SSRIs, a newer class of antidepressants, include popular drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft. Preliminary findings suggested that suicidal thoughts and attempts, though rare, were more common in kids on antidepressants than those on sugar pills. No child on the study committed suicide. This report from Columbia will be expected at an FDA hearing in September, when the agency is expected to decide whether SSRIs should be prescribed to children.

The FDA must decide whether benefits outweigh risks for children. The FDA’s Tom Laughren says, ‘Studies have been strikingly unsuccessful in showing a benefit in kids. But that doesn’t mean they don’t work for some.

These are the 10 often prescribed antidepressants:

SCHOOL COUNSELING MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN KEEPING STUDENTS AT RISK IN SCHOOL

The self-esteem of a preteen or teen has a significant impact upon their academic success or failure. The vast majority of young people who are having trouble in school and who speak to me after assemblies talk about their use of alcohol and drugs, self-harm, sexual promiscuity, depression and more. They also talk about how they feel like losers, victims angry and worthless as well as where these feelings come from: grief and loss, all forms of abuse and family problems.

The important question is how do we help them climb out of the role of victim and up the ladder of success? Can tutoring help? Can counseling help? What is the success rate when you couple them together?

The control group received neither tutoring nor counseling, though the students were encouraged to utilize the school counselor for individual counseling if needed and to seek academic support from school personnel.

RESULTS
Between tutorial plus group counseling and tutorial groups: Students receiving both counseling and tutoring improved significantly in achievement, classroom behavior, and self-esteem when compared to students who received tutorial assistance alone.

IMPLICATIONS
This research indicates combining both academic tutoring and group counseling can result in greater improvement of academic achievement, behavior and self-esteem.

This intervention supports the importance and effectiveness of the school counselor's role.

This article was taken from the National Peer Helpers Association.

"Hope is a set of rules, norms, and practices that ensure that we have some room not only to dream of the extraordinary, but also to do the extraordinary."

Wishing you well,
All of us at LEGACY
Susie Vanderlip - Ken Vanderlip - Tara Seamans
800-707-1977