Updates from "Partnership for a Drug Free America" Blog

As I get caught up on my blog reading again, I ran across several good and interesting articles on the Partnership for a Drug Free America blog. I have placed the blog links below. Please click on them and give them a read if the topic interests you. Also, consider following the Partnership for a Drug Free America blog as it routinely has great information and updates nearly daily.

Empowering Youth to Prevent Underage Drinking click here. This article talks about how all of the stats about teens doing drugs or drinking alcohol doesn't always remind you that because the percentages are low, that means the majority of students are doing the right thing and making the right choices. Give this article a quick read to see how students can be the solution to the problem of teens using and abusing drugs and alcohol.

American Smokers Using Less Cigarettes click here. Good news about cigarette smoking in the United States.

Teens Struggle with Quitting Smoking click here. Even though the article above is good news, this article shows you how powerful the addiction to cigarettes can be, especially in teens. Cigarettes simply can't be something you experiment with as you can get hooked and addicted with just one puff.

Drug Known as "Smiles" Being Linked to Hollywood Death

Michael Wenger, a Prevention Specialist here in Warren County and an active leader and member of Warren County's STOP group sends out great information to those on his email list throughout the year. I just received the 2nd or 3rd email in the past week talking about the dangers of a new synthetic drug and this time the damage is making national news due to its role in a celebrity death and possible murder. Please see the article below to hear about the real dangers of this "nice" sounding synthetic drug.

'Smiles': New street drug tied to 'Sons of Anarchy' death

Matt Carr / Getty Images file

Actor Johnny Lewis, 28, who starred in the series "Sons of Anarchy."

By Brian Alexander, NBC News Contributor

Johnny Lewis, an actor in the popular “Sons of Anarchy” motorcycle-gang cable drama, died early Wednesday in Los Angeles, suspected of killing his 81-year-old former landlord, Catherine Davis, and possibly himself.

Police think the 28-year-old rising star, who played Kip 'Half-sack' Epps on the FX show, may have been under the influence of a drug few have heard of, a substance known informally as “Smiles.”

It’s part of a new wave of synthetic drugs finding their way onto America’s streets and into its clubs. With the chemical name 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine, it is known by drug agents and chemists as 2C-I, part of a closely-related family of “2C” drugs.

While Smiles may seem obscure, it’s already done damage, and not just in drug-hip Hollywood.

When 18-year-old Adam Budge of East Grand Forks, Minn., gave a derivative of the Smiles drug to his buddy, 17-year-old Elijah Stai, of nearby Park Rapids this year, Stai wound up dead. The drug was supposed to be a cheap, harmless high. But within an hour of mixing the powder into some chocolate and eating it, Stai was convulsing, hallucinating, and eventually stopped breathing. Now Budge faces charges that could put him in prison for many years.

But what is Smiles?

Like all the 2C drugs, it’s a psychoactive, hallucinogenic chemical that alter the brain’s balance of dopamine and serotonin. Smiles is particularly powerful, binding to serotonin receptors in the brain at 20 times the rate of another drug used in schizophrenia research, according to an experiment performed by Purdue University chemists.

The effects of 2C-I, like those of LSD, can last up to eight hours. But because the effects can take time to appear, users may think they haven’t taken enough to get the desired high, and so take more, risking overdose.

The drug can be taken as small tablets, on pieces of blotter paper like LSD, or in powder form, often mixed with something else, like chocolate.

In June, as part of a Substances Control Act overhaul, Congress made 2C-I a schedule I drug -- highly restricted, like methamphetamine. But, explained Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson Rusty Payne, trying to get government arms around these new drugs is “like playing whack-a-mole. There are just so many emerging chemicals.”

Labs, often located in Europe or Asia, can use legal, common chemicals to produce huge batches of the drugs. Once one formulation is discovered, and banned, all the chemists have to do is slightly alter the structure of the molecules to create another, potentially legal, substitute until that one is banned.

There is no known geographic hot spot for the 2C drugs, unlike, say, methamphetamine, which became known as a rural, small-town problem. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration believes that most, if not all, the 2C drugs are being imported to the country, not made domestically.

Often, Payne said, teens rationalize the use of the drugs because they think, or are told, that it’s legal and if it’s legal, it’s safe. Another problem is that users often think they’re taking something else.

“We are getting so many calls because people are dying abusing chemicals that nobody ever heard of,” Payne said. “They’re told it’s harmless. If you can just go buy it somewhere, or on the internet, then it must be safe, but nothing could be further from the truth.”

Users aren’t the only ones who are often in the dark. According to Payne, even the DEA’s own agents are behind the curve when it comes to designer synthetics.

“It’s tough for our agents to stay up to date,” he explained. “Chemicals that used to take years to synthesize now take months. And many chemicals are diverted” from legal uses to illicit ones.

Chemical and pharmacologic research appears in journals, is posted online, and becomes easily available to all. That is often a good thing, but it also allows rogue chemists to use the science to create new analogs of drugs like 2C-I.

The drug “Spice,” for example, which made headlines over the past two years as a marijuana substitute, began as a research project by a Clemson chemist named John W. Huffman. He was doing the research under the auspices of the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

“This synthetic stuff is the new frontier of drugs,” Payne said.

Brian Alexander (www.BrianRAlexander.com) is co-author, with Larry Young Ph.D., of "The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction," (www.TheChemistryBetweenUs.com), now on sale.

Stomp Out Bullying Day: Monday, October 1st

     We are asking staff, students, and community to wear blue on Monday, October 1st, to show our united effort to stomp out bullying in our schools and community. In fact, we will use the whole week to raise awareness about the problem of bullying and the long term and possibly deadly effects bullying can have on a young person. Our district counseling staff has been and will continue to get data from students, staff, and parents by using surveys. This data will not only include questions about bullying, but questions about a wide-range of needs a student, staff member, or family member may have. As a team, we then review this data and fine tune our plan to address these needs. With a problem like bullying, counselors and teachers cannot solve it on their own. We need the help of students and families as well. Mr. Barry and Ms. Flagor went to a special showing of the much-talked about documentary "Bully" this summer and participated in an hour-long post-movie conversation. The last statement, made by a high school, student really drove home the issue and solution of bullying. She said "Teachers can try all they can. Parents can try all they can. People can make laws and rules and hang up signs and have special days. But in the end, the solution to bullying is with the students. Students must step up and say this isn't right and bullying is a terrible thing. Students listen to students. So when students start sticking up for each other, only then can we truly solve the issue of bullying." I believe she is right. We can all make a difference, but we all need to plant the seed in a child's head about how terrible bullying can be and teach them strategies to avoid being bullied and how to stick up for others who are being bullied. And then we just hope that seed grows and spreads among all students. So, please wear blue on Monday, October 1st and show your support for our efforts in Stomping Out Bullying. Please see the websites below for more information.

 Stomp Out Bullying website

Stop Bullying.gov

CHS Student Needs Assessment

All 9-12 graders will be taking the survey that you see below during Language Classes.  Please do not answer the survey unless you are a 9-12 grader. This data will be used to better help Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Heidemann understand what the students of CHS need from us.  Thanks!

8th Graders Email Question of the Week: What Does it Mean to be a Role Model?

My 8th graders are asked to email me their answer to my class question of the week. Each student is required to answer one question each quarter. Each week, I will post some of the best email answers I receive. Below are three of the best answers I received for the question "What does it mean to be a role model?"


  "A role model to me is someone that you can look up to and will give you advice when nessesary. A role model can really be anyone that you look up to. It can be a celebrity, a teacher, it can even be a parent."


    "I feel as if a role model is someone you can look up to, whether or not it is bad or good. Good role models are people that set a good example and have somethign you can aspire to be, where as a bad role model either has achieved something you could not even hope to achieve or do and have bad "habits"." 


     "A role model to me is someone who strives, and may fail, to be a good example. They strive for excellence. Role models treat people nicely, no matter how weird or odd they are. They don't see themselves as better than anyone. All in all, role models are just nice, fun people. I think everyone should strive to be a role model because someone is always watching."

As Suicide Prevention Awareness Week Comes to a Close, Bring Someone Out of the Darkness

Short and simple video that has nothing to do with Suicide Prevention Awareness, just a great invention that is helping people enjoy a simple luxury: light in their house. But wait....does this have meaning to Suicide Prevention Awareness Week? I think so. I think we can all do something simple to provide light in people's life. I think we can seek people out who live in darkness and help them. And I don't think it takes a special person or a genius mind, I think it just takes a small amount of time to find someone who is in a dark place and try to help them see the light. We can all help be a part of the solution. Have a great weekend!

This Week is National Suicide Prevention Week

 

       This week is National Suicide Prevention Week in our country. Our recent local data on the Iowa Youth Survey shows that we have anywhere from 5-12% or our middle school students thinking about suicide, making a plan to commit suicide, or even attempting suicide. At the high school, those numbers rise to near 19% in some cases. That means 1 in 5 of our high school age students have had suicidal thoughts! If that is not scary enough, state and national averages are very similar. As a counselor, it is sad and downright scary to think that a handful of kids that walk into my classroom every class period could be contemplating suicide. This is a problem affecting our teens today. But it is not just affecting teens, it is affecting adults. Adults who have lost their job, going through family splits, and especially adults returning from active duty in combat. This is a great week for all of us to re-focus on each other and reach out to someone who is in need. People who are contemplating suicide typically do not reach out for help. They feel hopeless (Hopelessness is the #1 cause/symptom of suicidal ideation) so they will not seek help. We need to seek them. We need to help them. We need to give them hope. Only then can we start lowering those scary percentages listed earlier in this post. So please keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open this week and every week for those who need a lift. And please try to provide that lift or help them find the help they need. I have placed a link below with TONS of resources and information about suicide such as warning signs, support numbers and groups, and what the common person can do to help. Please click the link and educate yourself so that you can be part of the solution. Thank you!

Suicide prevention Week information and resources

----Lots of information on the website above, but I did want to copy/paste information from one part of the website showing you just how severe the problem is and why we need to work to prevent this from happening. See information below.

Scope of the problem

Suicide occurs when a person ends his or her life. It is the 10th leading cause of death among Americans. But suicide deaths are only part of the problem.  Suicide attempts impact a larger population—more individuals survive suicide attempts than die. And they are often seriously injured and in need of medical care.

Suicide Deaths in the United States

• There are far more suicides each year than homicides. In fact, in 2009, the number of suicides was  about twice that of homicides.
• More than  36,000 people kill themselves each year.

Suicide Attempts in the United States

• There are an estimated 12 attempted suicides for every one suicide death.
• More than 374,500 people with self-inflicted injuries are treated in emergency rooms each year.
• More than 163,000 people are hospitalized each year due to self-inflicted injury.

Age Group Differences

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 25- to 34-year olds and the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year olds.
• Suicide among 45- to 54-year-olds is a growing problem; the rate of suicide is higher in this age group than in any other.
• Although older adults engage in suicide attempts less than those in other age groups, they have a higher rate of death by suicide.  Over the age of 65, there is one estimated suicide for every 4 attempted suicides compared to 1 suicide for every 100-200 attempts among youth and young adults ages 15-24.

Gender Disparities

• Men die by suicide four times as often as women and represent 78.8% of all U.S. suicides.
• Women attempt suicide two to three times as often as men.
• Suicide rates for males are highest among those aged 75 and older.
• Suicide rates for females are highest among those aged 45-54.
• Firearms are the most commonly used method of suicide among males.
• Poisoning is the most common method of suicide for females.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities

• The highest suicide rates are among American Indian/Alaskan Natives and Non-Hispanic Whites.
• Asian/Pacific Islanders have the lowest suicide rates among males while Non-Hispanic Blacks have the lowest suicide rate among females.

Warren County Health and Safety Fair Thursday, September 13th!

If you read the weekly Carlisle District information in the Wildcat Weekly, you might have noticed this. But it was buried pretty deep, so I wanted to repost it on this blog for those who missed it. Please note the information below. If you can make it, it looks like a great event for families. Spread the word!



WARREN COUNTY HEALTH AND SAFETY FAIR
The Warren County Health and Safety Fair will be held on Thursday, September 13th
from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the Indianola Courthouse Lawn.  Please join us for the following:  

*Fire Safe house presented by Indianola Fire Dept.
*Face Painting
*Free giveaways
*Various health and safety vendors
*Fun activities for kids

*The Iowa State Patrol will sponsor a bike safety rodeo at this time.  Your child(ren) can bring their bicycle and take advanatage of the following:
--Bike safety check
--Skills test on a bike-safety obstacle course
--Free t-shirt 

JC Penneys to Offer Free Haircuts Every Sunday!

   Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about a new promotion that JC Penney's stores are doing. Well, they have done it in the past to help kids get ready for school, but now they are doing it every Sunday for kids. FREE HAIRCUTS!! In this day and age, not much is free anymore, so this is a great bonus and I hope it can help out families that might need this free service. Please click on the article below to read more and notice that the promotion will not start up until November. Hope some of you can use it!

JC Penney's free haircut Sundays click here!

The Recruiters are Coming!!!

It's that time of year again!  College and military recruiters will soon be visiting the Counseling office at the High School.  Visiting with recruiters is a great way to find out information about a college.  Juniors and Seniors are invited to come meet with recruiters, just get a pass from either of the Counselors.  Here's a list of upcoming recruiters:
9/13- University of Iowa 11am
9/20- Drake University 9am
9/20- Marines (available during lunch in the commons)
9/25- Iowa Central Community College 10am
9/27- Indian Hills Community College 11am
9/27- Avila University 1:30pm
9/27- Coe College 2pm
10/1- Truman State 1pm
10/4- Iowa Wesleyan 9am
10/4- Buena Vista University 2pm
10/5- Simpson College 1pm
10/18- Northwest Missouri State 11am
10/23- Aveda Institute 9am
10/24- Hawkeye Community College 10:30am

Also- if you want to find out about a lot of different colleges in one place, check out the local college fairs.  The Golden Circle College Fair hosts over 150 different schools at HyVee Hall on Sunday, September 30th from 12:30-3. Looking for a Christian College?  Check out the Christian College Fair on Monday, October 1st from 6:30-8:30 at the Des Moines Christian School.

Happy hunting!

Autism and Bullying, a CNN story

   Thank you to a middle school parent who emailed me a CNN article about students with autism and the higher likelihood of those students being targets and victims of school bullying. Please click on the link below to read the article in full and as a parent or reader of this blog, feel free to email me anytime with stories, information, etc. that you think I might be interested in or that readers of this blog might be interested in.

    As for the article, I have done some research on this and took a class last spring that gave me similar information. And it is not just autism, but also Asperger's, some learning disorders, and students with ADD/ADHD. These students may appear just like any other student, but may have some different behaviors. And middle school kids sometimes struggle with students who look like them, but don't act like them. They cannot always process this difference as just a normal difference in life and this can translate into teasing, or possibly worse like bullying. Like I said above, click this article to read more about this issue. Thanks!



 CNN article about Autism and Bullying click here!

Bullying: What is It? What Isn't It? How Has it Changed in a Generation? And How Can it be Stopped?

  Quite a mouthful, huh? Since we are beginning another year of school, I wanted to write a blogpost that covered everything I could think of about bullying, or at least the main points since Bullying is such a large topic, full length books don't even cover it all. But as a counselor, I think the most important points to hit are the ones in this post's title:

• What is Bullying?
• What is Not Bullying?
• How Has Bullying Changed Since We Were Kids?
• How Can Bullying be Stopped or Limited?

    So, first of all, what is Bullying? Here is a pretty standard and accepted definition:

•     Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. (StopBullying.gov)

   It goes on to say that the behavior must be aggressive, have an imbalance of power, and be repetitive or potential to be repetitive. What I look for to categorize bullying is if the target is affected negatively at the moment and in an extended time period afterwards, is their a threat for more bullying behavior to occur, and how long has this gone on? Middle School is one of the worst areas for bullying behavior because kids are bigger and there is a lot of social power being thrown around. The kids are just discovering themselves and are not very mature about their actions and behaviors. Elementary and High School can have issues as well, but lack of maturity, or finally having some maturity, seem to keep the bullying behaviors at a lower level. Our data shows 7th grade seems to be the peak year. I work with many students after they get into a fight, are in the middle of some friendship drama, or are having a tough time fitting in. But none of these issues are automatically bullying issues, because the repetition and the affects are what is key. But if that same student is seeing me daily or weekly for the same issue and it is not getting better, now we are likely talking about a bullying issue, especially if it is causing the target to have issues in other parts of their life (education, attendance, home, behaviors, etc.)

  So, what is not Bullying then? 

   Well, honestly, most stuff that happens in a school is not bullying. The word "bully" gets thrown around a lot, but not often does an issue classify as a bullying issue. We don't have many fights in our school, but almost all of them are just kids having a bad day or getting caught up in the moment. Very rarely are they a bullying issue. In fact, most bullies prefer to not be physical because it is too easy to be caught. True bullies are very good with persuasion, negative words, and generally bothering you without ever touching you. I always tell students that bullies will sometimes mess with you enough that you will hurt yourself, so they don't have to. Sad, but true. Teasing is pretty normal and pretty common in school. Sadly, so are rumors. But what I have found is that teasing is usually between friends or 'somewhat' friends and the rumors usually die out after a day or two and a new rumor about a different student is active. This is life and has gone on since the dawn of time. Doesn't mean we don't still try to deal with it and there may even still be consequences, but these issues still don't classify as bullying behavior. They can turn into that if they persist day after day and are repetitive and a pattern of teasing/rumors forms. Also, if the effects on the target are severe and affect their well-being here at school on a day-to-day basis, now we could have a bullying issue. But generally, hundreds of issues pop up every day. Sometimes none of those are bullying issues, just teens being teens and some being too mean. Hopefully, I, as the counselor, can work with the students to clear those issues up. 

   So if Bullying issues are only a small part of the school day, why all the talk? Bullies were around when I was young, what has changed?

   Great question....a lot has changed! The biggest changes I see are these two:

• Technology makes bullying 24/7
• Exposure to Media means kids have more mature experiences yet still immature in thinking

    What this means is when we were young and people were mean, it was all better for the most part at 3:30 when we got home. Mom or Dad made us some milk and cookies, we cried a bit, and then we went to bed happy. Not so today. That same teen today goes home and likely gets 10 text messages on the way home, possibly all of them reinforcing the mean comments he/she heard during the day. Then, they log into their facebook account to play a game to get away from it all and their wall has been bombarded with hateful words and images. Parents might be working and their school friends and staff are at their own homes. This leaves our young teen brain alone with negative thoughts. Things can escalate very quickly, especially if the teen tries to respond to the comments, and very soon we could have a crisis situation. In my "former life" as a science teacher at our high school, one scary fact I remember is that the last part of the brain to develop is problem solving and long-term planning/logic. This doesn't develop fully until almost age 20. So, our young teen brain is getting bombarded with hateful messages without the ability to properly problem solve and think "Ignore. Block. Delete. Don't listen to them. Listen to Music. Life will get better. You have friends. You have family. Etc." So when we used to get away from bullying by literally getting away, today's teen cannot. And before you say "Just don't let them have a phone or use Facebook", be careful. That is punishing the target and not letting them develop coping and problem-solving skills they will need when life gets even tougher. Teens are social beings and one of the biggest social activities and ways to stay connected is social networks, cell phones, and texting. Take these away and your child could be even more damaged then they were when they were being bullied. But, limits to these help and knowing skills like blocking, ignoring, and deleting, as well as printing and saving the online posts for evidence work great. I knew one student who got mean and hateful texts all through the night and was up all night getting these texts. A simple suggestion of turning off his phone at night or leaving it in the kitchen could have fixed that. But to convince this teen to get away from a social connection like their phone for even the bedtime hours took some convincing!

    And as to the other point, our kids today get exposed to violent, mature images, words, concepts all the time. Even when we limit them, they still get it in one form or another. And again, their brain can't process all of this, so they truly do not understand how hurtful some of these words or actions can be. It doesn't always hurt when they hear or see them on TV, so why would it in real life? 24/7 media via Internet, cable/satellite TV, and the radio keeps pushing these things to the kids and some of it then gets pushed on each other in the heat of the moment. 

  Wow....so how do we stop Bullying?

  Well, I don't think it can truly be stopped, but it can be prevented as much as possible. It takes EVERYONE's help though. A counselor can work with both bullies and targets to give them skills so it doesn't happen again. Parents can monitor their child's phone and social network some and yet still respect their privacy. Parents, teachers, and any adults can model correct behavior and understand that if a child/teen sees parents fight in an unhealthy manner (name-calling, aggression, etc), adults yelling at the opposing team or the umpires, or adults bad-mouthing each other (even in politics!!), that a child/teen will learn from this and learn it is acceptable behavior. Even if deep down we all know it should not be acceptable. But when I went to watch the Bully movie and stayed for the hour-long discussion afterwards, the best solution was given by a student at the very end of our discussion. She said "We can all talk about stopping bullying. We can make signs. Adults can try their best to monitor their teens. And we can even make laws. But honestly, it is up to the teens themselves. They are the ones that have to stand up for each other and say Bullying is not right and is not acceptable. Only then will we truly make a difference because teens listen to teens." That might have been one of the bigger ovations I have heard in some time. She was right. She was so right! But....we must all still work together and do our part and get the teens talking about this and spreading the message that Bullying is not normal, teen behavior....it is hateful, mean behavior that can have long-lasting effects. And if we can't stop it, we must work together to limit it.

Phew....that was a long post, at least for me. I have many more ideas on Bullying and will be studying it a lot this year, especially Cyberbullying. I am presenting at the Iowa School Counselors Association Conference in November on the topic of Bullying. I will also be on a panel at the first ever Bullying Prevention Summit in Des Moines at the end of November. Both exciting opportunities. I may also be doing some speaking at some coaching meetings and classes for the state on the idea/topic of bullying in sports. Gonig to be a busy year, but I know a couple things are guaranteed. We will have some bullying issues in our middle school this year (every school has these) and we will have some that are not. But I will work with our staff and students to see if we can resolve each one all while doing some school-wide Bullying Prevention educational ideas as well. Thank you for reading!!