NEWSLETTER
Summer 2018
Our website, www.familysanity.org, launched this Spring!
While we continue to tweak and improve it, there seems to be a new creative energy emerging in our support groups. We've begun to hold Special Events on topics that are near and dear to our members' families. The first one, which took place in late May, was entitled "How to Get Your Teen/Young Adult into Therapy". It was organized by one of our dedicated members Shirley Rexrode. It featured Michelle Ikei, LFMT of BACA (Bay Area Clinical Associates). Our next one will be held Tuesday, September 16 on "How Cannabis Impacts the Teen and Young Adult Brain." * Our daytime parent group, which is composed of those of us with older teens and young adults, has many parents whose kids are tech addicted. We are all frustrated because there are so few resources out there to combat this growing problem. At our June luncheon, a sense of advocacy started to bubble, Several of us are planning to meet with other related groups to brainstorm on what we as parents should do. One tought I've had for awhile is to create a Tech Sabbath, where all family members would go without their tech devices every Saturday. Parents and kids alone would undoubtedly benefit from this. We might actually start looking one another in the eye and talk to each another. What are your thoughts? Would you like to help kick off Tech Sabbaths? Email us at familysanitygroup@gmail.com. Meanwhile, our third Tuesday evening Family Sanity Parent Support Group w/ Amy Friedman, LCSW is taking a summer hiatus. It will resume in September. The daytime group will next meet on Thursday, August 9 from 12noon-2pm. Lisa Scimens Family Sanity Founder * This will be an event rescheduled from this past March. Tragically, the speaker, Jennifer Golick, was killed at the VA shooting in Yountville.
NEXT MEETINGS Daytime Group for Parents of Young Adults (18+) Th, Aug. 9 12-2pm Potluck Lunch (suggested donation of $20) Please rsvp by e-mailing: familysanitygroup@gmail.com Evening Group for Parents with Teens
Tu Sept. 18 7:00-9pm Rescheduled: "Cannabis and the Teen/Young Adult Brain" Tickets will be available via www.familysanity.org later this summer. $20 donation
Tickets purchased for the original March date will be honored.
Please rsvp by e-mailing: familysanitygroup@gmail.com
Both meetings will take place at: 855 Longridge Rd Oakland. Please call Lisa at 415-309-1001 for more info.
Family Sanity website:
Want to help? Please send me names of programs and schools that you have found beneficial in finding good help for your child. Another way you can help is write a paragraph or a page about an experience with your son or daughter that is memorable. It could be retelling a frustrating time, a sign of progress or a moment when you and your difficult child when you both laughed. Or it could simply be about you...what you do for yourself to be able to keep going. Finally, as you know by now, this organization is a one woman shop (me) that I envisioned 5 years ago. I am so proud to see how many families we are helping and am very excited about seeing it continue to grow. To help us get to the next level, please consider donating to Family Sanity by going to our website, www.familysanity.org, and donating whatever amount you can.
Much gratitude, Lisa
IN THE NEWS.... Video Game and Tech Addiction has been in the news a lot lately. Though not considered an "addiction" (yet) as deemed by the American Psychiatric Association, it seems this categorization may be coming soon.
"'Gaming Disorder' revives the debate over addiction"
https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Gaming-disorder-revives-debate-over-what-13015119.php?utm_campaign=email-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social "Writing a new set of rules for video game addiction"
http://www.digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/SanFranciscoChronicle/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=HSFC%2F2018%2F06%2F19&entity=Ar02501&sk=7FA5EF5F&mode=text
