Tuesday Night- Overeaters Anonymous @ St. John’s Episcopal Church
7-8:30pm 183 E. Bay Street @ Orange Costa Mesa CA
Contact is Jennifer B. 949-307-1410

Wednesday Night-Overeaters Anonymous @ The Victorian House
7-8pm 505 29^th Street Newport Beach, CA 92663
Contact is Irvina 949-903-4784

Thursday Night- Overeaters Anonymous @ Her Place
7-8:30 23181 Verdugo Drive Laguna Hills CA #104A
Contact is Kara 949-296-5340

Friday AM- Overeaters Anonymous @ St. John’s Episcopal Church
10:30am-12pm 183 E. Bay Street @ Orange Costa Mesa CA
Contact is Chris 714-557-1380

Saturday AM- Overeaters Anonymous @ Her Place
9-10:30am 23181 Verdugo Drive Laguna Hills CA #104A
Contact is Kara 949-296-5340

All OA meetings are anorexic, bulimic and compulsive overeating focused. Whatever your problem with food ALL are welcome. These meetings are all women only, The Thursday is coed though mostly women attend.

Alyson Schuster (626)536-2876 – the Jason Foundation, Alhambra Hospital

Alexia Mowry (562) 881-9886 – Center for Discovery – girls eating disorders and substance abuse

Kara Miller (949) 296-5340/413-6945 – Timberline/ and Jason Foundation – all the above

Allison Kress, Psy.D. – Laguna Niguel – (949) 235-6636 – good with girls and very committed

Researchers at Brigham Young University surveyed 5,000 adolescents about their drinking habits and their relationship with their parents. They found the kids least prone to heavy drinking had parents who scored high on accountability (knowing where their kids were and with whom) and warmth. Having so-called “indulgent” parents, who were low on accountability and high on warmth, nearly tripled the risk of the teen participating in heavy drinking. The study also found that “strict” parents — high on accountability and low on warmth — more than doubled their teen’s risk of heavy drinking. These results were apparent even when researchers controlled for other influences, such as peer pressure, religious and economic background.

“Authoritative parents tend to be highly demanding and highly responsive,” the authors wrote. “They monitor their children closely and provide high levels of support and warmth. Our data suggest that peer encouragement to drink might have less impact when parents are both highly supportive and highly attentive.”

The study is published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

– Shari Roan

Mackenzie Frazee Part 1

Mackenzie Frazee Part 2

‘Is Your Teen at Risk?’ event presents adults with challenges and struggles on the minds of adolescents.

By JOHN CRANDALL
The Orange County Register

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Online videos detailing how to create hallucinogens, Web sites enabling sexual predators to snare victims and cell phones acting as inventory lists to keep track of drug sales.

These were just some of the dangers that parents and adolescents learned about at the “Is Your Teen at Risk?” forum at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center.

“Nowadays kids are pulled in so many ways, and there’s so much peer pressure,” said Tasha Schilling, an education specialist for the Orange County Fire Authority.

The forum showcased information from a number of different government organizations including the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County Fire Authority and the California Highway Patrol.

Tables and booths held information for parents including brochures for treatment centers for adolescents struggling with addiction or pamphlets with advice for parents on how to determine if their children are using drugs.

Coto de Caza resident Megan Melsheimer, 19, who attended, said she started drinking and using drugs when she was in sixth grade. Now, she’s almost three years sober and says that she goes to events like this one to help show that young kids can get addicted and that they can get help.

“It doesn’t just happen to a certain type of person,” Melsheimer said. “It can happen to anybody.”

At about 6:30 p.m., a number of speakers – including Rancho Mayor Neil Blais, parents who lost a child to a drug overdose, a former alcoholic and law enforcement and emergency services officers spoke to attendees about challenges facing the modern teen. According to sheriff’s estimates about 375 people attended.

Among the topics discussed:

Rancho Santa Margarita is a good neighborhood that still suffers from teen drug problems, according to Deputy Lance Christensen, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department school resource officer.

He also spoke about some of the narcotic trends occurring on local campuses and showed Youtube videos that display how to make drugs from store-bought chemicals. He said that parents should know what teens are using their phones for, as some have used them to record drug sales or establish narcotics deals.

California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Goodwin spoke about the importance of using care while driving.

“The leading cause of death for kids between 15 and 20 is motor vehicle collisions,” Goodwin said. “We take driving very, very seriously.”

OCFA Battalion Chief Scott Brown talked about the dangers of street racing, especially on Live Oak Canyon Road in the canyons.

He said that many teens have died on that road. “We consider that our ‘blood alley’,” Brown said.

Jeff Brown, an investigator for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, spoke about ways for parents to protect their kids from online predators as well as possible danger in their neighborhoods. He said that parents should know who their children are talking to, both on the internet and in life.

Deputy Josh Money, part of the OCSD’s high tech crimes unit, showed parents some of the basics of internet social networking sites that many kids use, including Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.

For more information about the program, visit www.isyourteenatrisk.org.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7308 or jcrandall@ocregister.com

Mike Darnold, from the Early Intervention Team, talks to parents about his struggles with drugs as a young man, and the importance of communication about drugs and alcohol with teens.

Issues such as bullying and teen driving were discussed on Tuesday.

By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
The Orange County Register

LAGUNA HILLS – Ecstasy bracelets. Emerging fight clubs and gang activity. Drug concealment devices.

Parents were shocked, to say the least, of the drug trends facing teens today. Some were even brought to tears after hearing first hand accounts of drug abuse.

“I’m horrified,” said Katina D. Chopra, an Aliso Viejo parent with one son in high school and two children in elementary school. “It’s destroying our children. Parents need to wake up.”

More than 100 parents and teens from Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo packed the Laguna Hills Community Center Tuesday for a forum titled “Is Your Teen at Risk?,” a community resource forum for parents of middle and high school aged children who wanted to learn more about the issues facing youth.

School Resource Officer Lance Christensen gave parents a reality check during one of the sessions that evening. On display were alcohol bottles, prescription drugs and illegal drugs that have been confiscated from high schools.

“We come from an area of entitlement. This is not an inner city. We do this presentation all over the state. A lot of people that see these products out here … they go ‘yeah we get it, we come from an inner city, troubled area,” Christensen said. “This is south Orange County. We’re not an inner city. We come from good families, good kids and yet we still get a large amount of narcotics.”

Parents learned of pharmaceutical “pharming parties” where teens go to house parties and take prescription painkiller pills. They learned of GHP, a date rape drug that can be concealed in Visine bottles and of colorful bracelets that contain sponges where teens can suck the date rape drug from.

The forum was made up of four conference sessions – current drug trends in the community, teens and technology/Internet safety, teen driving, and bullying and school violence trends.

Parents also heard a first-hand account of alcohol abuse from Mike Darnold with the Early Intervention Team and urged parents not to encourage bad behavior by constantly bailing their children out.

“You got to consequence. You take away the phone. You take away the computer. You take away the car. You ground them. You keep an eye on them. If they break trust, you don’t trust them. You didn’t break trust, they broke trust,” Darnold, a recovering alcohol addict, told the audience.

“It was convincing,” said Terri Marris, and Aliso Viejo parent.

Before and after the sessions, parents also learned about community outreach efforts through display booths outside the community center. Groups that were there include: California Youth Services, Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County Sheriff’s Department and more.

This presentation is a collaborative effort between the cities of Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Fire Authority, California Highway Patrol, Capistrano Unified School District, Saddleback Valley Unified School District, PTSA and other agencies working together to keep teens and communities safe.

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 949-454-7360