Warning Signs & Prevention

As a parent you may sometimes wonder, “Why does my teen turn to substance misuse?” For parents of teens who are misusing cough medicine and/or other over-the-counter (OTC) substances, it can be difficult to understand their reasoning for doing so and, more importantly, how to best help them. A new study by the Center of […]

Summer provides teens with a much-needed break from scholastic responsibilities and offers extra daylight for them to participate in their favorite extracurricular activities and socialize with each other. Unfortunately, some teens also use this time to experiment with and misuse substances. June and July are the two months that see the most first-time substance use […]

Stress is no fun. Regardless of your age, it can lead to reckless behaviors you wouldn’t normally adopt. However, for teens, stress can be particularly dangerous as young adults haven’t yet built up the skills to combat stress in healthy ways. Stress infringes upon their self-control, both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, the more stress someone feels, […]

Researchers from New York University, University of Miami, and the University of California, Los Angeles collaborated on a study that analyzed the differing effects of exploration on adolescents and adults. Exploration, in this context, is defined as, “the action of traveling in or through an unfamiliar area” (Oxford). Continue on to learn the results and some tips […]

The #SleepyChickenChallenge is the latest edition of a slew of dangerous social media challenges. In this rendition, people have been seen cooking raw chicken in liquid sleeping medication. First seen on TikTok, the video has since been taken down from the platform to protect the health and wellbeing of its users. However, before it was […]

Teens these days face a myriad of challenges as they navigate the world around them. They are gaining important life skills, learning about themselves, and forming the foundation of personality characteristics that will likely be with them for the rest of their lives. As the Chief Clinical Officer at Sandstone Care, I oversee all clinical […]