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The SCCoop
Words on Wellness
April 2018
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NOTES FROM THE CO-PRESIDENTS
Building on our theme of
Communications
for 2018, we have just landed at Twitter! Please follow us @mcleanscc so we can build our coalition and share important events and resources.
We are looking forward to our spring speaker, Wendy Mogel, author of the forthcoming
In this issue of The SCCoop, we report on the recent Middle School Forum, preview our upcoming anti-alcohol at prom campaign, provide some new resources on juuling and vaping, and highlight the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board. As always,
let us know how we're doing!
Brad Kuebler and Amber Syed, Co-Presidents
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WENDY MOGEL, SCC SPRING SPEAKER
The Safe Community Coalition is proud to bring Dr. Wendy Mogel, clinical psychologist, parenting expert and New York Times best-selling author, to McLean on Wednesday, May 2, 2018, at 7 pm at Temple Rodef Shalom. Buy your tickets now!
Dr. Mogel is known for combining cutting-edge psychological research with timeless wisdom in guiding parents through the rough waters of child rearing in today's competitive world. In her new book, Voice Lessons for Parents: What to Say, How to Say it, and When to Listen, Dr. Mogel offers an essential guide to the art of talking with children of all ages, showing us how a change in voice can transform communication and ease the relationship between parents and children. Her research-based guidelines help parents communicate with more warmth, respect, and sincerity, as well as foster open parent-child relationships that will help ensure our children's success in the classroom and in life.
In Voice Lessons for Parents: What to Say, How to Say it, and When to Listen, her new book released April 17 as a #1 new release in books on school-age child parenting on Amazon, Mogel shows parents how to cultivate the art of conversation - from infancy to adulthood - in an age of hurry, worry, and digital distraction. She demonstrates how a shift in tone, tempo, and body language can open up avenues of communication between parents and their kids, as well as between parents and teachers, coaches, caretakers, and partners. Dr. Mogel also addresses an obstacle that is frustrating even the most seasoned and confident parents - the distraction of digital devices.
A graduate of Middlebury College, Dr. Mogel completed an internship and post-doctoral fellowship in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She currently serves as a research and policy advisor for Challenge Success-a program of the Stanford University School of Education, and serves on the scientific advisory board of Parents Magazine. She contributes articles to a variety of publications including Independent School Magazine, Parents Magazine, and Camping Magazine and is regularly featured as a guest expert by The TODAY Show, and in interviews by reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, and NPR.
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Middle School Forum
On Wednesday April 11, 8th graders from Longfellow Middle School met with a panel of the SCC's Youth Advisory Council (YAC), a group of students from McLean & Langley High Schools, for our annual Middle School Forum, a Peer led, Teen to Teen Q & A. The forum allows 8th graders to ask questions about high school in a casual, supportive and small class environment. Questions cover a range of topics, from lockers to lunch, homecoming to homework and clubs to classes. Wellness topics of resiliency, stress management and balance are also discussed.
YAC include freshmen and upperclassmen who represent a wide array of
areas and interests. They participate in leadership
and c
ommunication training to prepare for MSF to help ensure informative and supportive sessions.
Cooper's MSF was cancelled due to snow and hopes to meet befo
re the end of the year.
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SCC Program Spotlight: Project Sticker Shock
April is Alcohol Awareness Month in Virginia. As we enter prom season, we like to remind parents and other adults of
the penalty for purchasing alcohol for minors in the state of Virginia.
Project Sticker Shock is a statewide
program designed to prevent adults from illegally providing alcohol to youth in our community. It is illegal for any person 21 or older to purchase or provide alcohol to an underage person. Conviction could result in fines up to $2,500 and/or 1 year in jail and the loss of a driver's license for up to 1 year.
Imagine these scenarios involving alcohol:
- Your middle school child wants to try your beer
- Your adult friend regularly blacks out from drinking
- You're concerned that your father, who's 75, is drinking and mixing medications
As part of Project Sticker Shock, students, local law enforcement, and SCC members put stickers on beer and wine coolers at local grocery and liquor stores. Sometimes just seeing the reminder is enough.
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Juuling and Vaping Update
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Are you familiar with "vaping" and "juuling"? Many parents are not, but our teens are.
Vaping and juuling are forms of e-cigarette use on the rise among suburban teens. Incidents of use on MHS school grounds are up this year and are a growing concern among McLean teachers and administrators.
Vape pens and juules are the battery-operated devices that produce vapors for inhalation by heating liquids containing flavorants and other chemicals. Some liquids available include highly-addictive nicotine or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.The flavor varieties appeal to teens, and the devices are small and inconspicuous, often resembling USB drives.
FCPS and the Fairfax County government have spoken out about juuling and vaping.
To learn more about vaping, it's potential health effects and consequences, as well as how to initiate a conversation with your teen, many of you attended McLean PTSA's information session for parents "Vaping and Juuling, What's That?" Brian Maslowski, FCPS Office of Student Safety & Wellness, presented a program similar to
this one about the signs you might see,
this one about how kids are getting the devices, and
this one about use in school. Head to one of these
YouTube links and see many others FCPS has produced. Kimberly Suiters, an Arlington parent of a teen, and ABC 7 on Your Side reporter, talked with Principal Reilly and some students for her
piece which aired on February 5.
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In the community...
When you or your children are in need of mental health services in Fairfax County, the
Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) can help. The CSB serves as your link to local services and resources for mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The CSB is one of 40 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and operates as a part of Fairfax County government's health and human services system. CSB staff and contracted service providers include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, counselors, therapists, case managers, peer specialists, and "behind the scenes" administrative and support staff.
Wondering when to call the CSB?
- If you or your child have an immediate life-threatening situation, call 911; ask for an officer who has been trained in Crisis Intervention. Depending upon the situation, CSB clinical staff may work collaboratively with law enforcement to address the crisis.
- For other emergency mental health needs that do not seem life-threatening, contact CSB Emergency Services, 24/7, at 703-573-5679. You may also come directly to the CSB's center in Merrifield.
- If it's not an emergency but you want to find help for yourself or someone you care about, call the CSB's entry and referral staff at 703-383-8500. Or, you can walk into the Merrifield Center, without an appointment, for an initial screening. If it looks like CSB services are appropriate, staff will provide a more in-depth assessment that same day. They can also give you names and information about other providers in the community. The call center and walk-in assessments are available 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Extended hours for youth evaluations are also offered on Tuesdays until 7 p.m.
Do you know a teen who wants to be more involved in creating drug and alcohol-free activities in our communities and improving the wellbeing of our youth? Ask him or her to consider becoming part of the
CSB's Youth Council. It's free and it's fun. Last month's meeting featured a panel of three George Mason University students who talked about the stresses of college life and how they say "NO" to excessive party drinking.
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McLeanSSC.org Website
As mentioned last time, we've redesigned our
website to better serve our community. Part of it lists resources
relating to our mission of empowering youth to thrive mentally and physically. If you have particular resources you think would be useful for us to highlight, please
send them along. You can
also visit our
Facebook page where we provide regular tips, links parenting articles, and news updates about our activities.
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| Apr 23, 6:30 pm: Launching Your High School Senior, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Apr 24, 7 pm: Book Talk on Wendy Mogel's The Blessing of a B Minus, Dolley Madison Library May 2, 7 pm: Wendy Mogel Speaker Event, Temple Rodef Shalom |
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