Girls of Grace: Conference helps teenage girls cope with today's issues

Body image? Self esteem? Eating disorders, sex and the downside of social networking?

Yuck, if you're a teenage girl, right?

Well, not if you're a teenage girl attending Girls of Grace, an exciting one-day event being held Feb. 19 at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, for girls 12 to 17.

"Girls and their mothers come from far and wide to attend these conferences," said Susan Niles, on behalf of the event.

Hosted by award-winning, multi-platinum selling trip Point of Grace, Girls of Grace will tackle issues teenage girls face through a fun platform that includes well-known featured speakers, lots of music and more.

"We've been singing together for many, many years, and about 8 or 9 years ago our dream came to fruition," said Shelley Breen, of Point of Grace, explaining the group's desire to start a conference for teen girls.

Breen said following their concerts, more and more girls would come to the trio for advice about tough issues.

"For us that's so hard," Breen said. "We are up on stage singing Christian music and (girls think) we have all the answers ... So many girls need a lending ear, and need answers."

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By: Sadie Fowler, Shelbyville Times-Gazette

Public meeting to focus on teen drug and alcohol abuse

When officials at Ellensburg High School said last month that there had been five incidents in two weeks involving students and drugs, including two students found to be under the influence of heroin, teacher Samantha Nelson wasn’t surprised.

Nelson, who teaches health to freshmen and sophomores and consumer and family issues to juniors and seniors, is a member of a Drug Task Force committee.

She knows it’s not uncommon for teens to experiment with drugs and alcohol. She knows that what starts as experimentation has the potential to also be tragically life changing.

“It wasn’t that I was surprised. I was saddened,” Nelson says. “These are good kids making bad choices and it can ruin their lives. I think it starts innocently enough, beginning with alcohol, continuing with marijuana and moving on to harder drugs like cocaine and heroin.

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By MARY SWIFT staff writer Daily Record

Christmas gift for your teen

The Christmas holiday will be here before we have a chance to breathe after Thanksgiving. Stores have had their Christmas decorations up for weeks now and parents are gearing up for the dreaded holiday shopping.

Some of the most difficult gifts to buy at Christmas is for teens. With all the gadgets teens want, they may not realize what they need. That's where parents step in.

Why not give your teen something that will help them move through their teen years with Godly insight? A book designed to discuss topics that affect teens daily. A book that gives teens and parents a place to come together to openly discuss some of the difficulties they face.

The book is, Tools4Teens.

Rich in truth, moving in story, profound in content … it’s what you want every teenager to read, reflect and relate to as they attempt to navigate the most turbulent waters of life … the teenage years! With the Spirit of faith, hope and love, Kelly Litvak and Shirley Hanson have assembled more than a book, it is a snapshot of an intersection between the two most important stories in history, God’s story and yours. ~ Jerry Edmonson, Lead Pastor, The Fellowship at Cinco Ranch

Order yours today. It's the easiest gift you'll purchase but the one that will sow seeds that will grow a lifetime.

Educators gather to learn how to prevent suicide among teens

Teenage suicide should never happen.

That's what LDS romance novelist Anita Stansfield, who spoke at the Provo School District's suicide prevention conference on Friday, told the hundreds of teachers, counselors and social workers who had gathered at BYU on a mission toward that very goal.

Stansfield spoke about her older brother, who killed himself at age 50 after years of struggling with mental illness. Twenty years prior to Nathan's suicide, her uncle had killed himself. No mention of this was made at his funeral.

Stansfield said she made the choice to talk about how he killed himself at Nathan's funeral.

"I just believe that denial is a great facilitator of many ugly things in life," she said.

Presenters talked about a number of different subjects, including the science behind depression, addiction and suicide, bullying, how to recognize suicidal behavior and talk to suicidal teens and different ways to help teenagers.

Beyond the basics of bullying: Curt Johnson

Girls gossip and backbite, boys kick and punch. That's how Americans view bullying.

New research out of Utah County shows that boys are more likely than girls to gossip and tease and less likely to see such relational bullying as actual bullying, which means it won't go away.

Curt Johnson, a psychologist with the Provo School District, said girls are more likely to tease and gossip than to engage in physical bullying, but boys are more likely overall to engage in all types of bullying, including the more emotional kind. Boys also are more likely to be the target of bullies.

Read entire article here.

By: Heidi Toth, Daily Herald

Technology everywhere: when will we learn?

Are teenagers too obsessed with their technology? Between cell phones, TV, MP3 players, video games and Facebook, when do teens have time for actual socializing?

It seems that teens' technology has become their lifeline. If someone were to take away their cellphone, it would be like taking away their oxygen.

As sad as it is, for some teens, it is an addiction.

If a teen goes to visit a friend or family member, you can almost guarantee that they will be pulling out their phone to text someone about something while visiting. This is kind of sad because it seems that teens are saying, "Yeah, I'll hang out with you, but I really would rather be with this person."

Another sad thing is that teens spend more time chatting on Facebook with their 650 "friends" than they do having a face-to-face conversation with a friend in real life.

An added problem is that most teenagers will have at least one ear bud in their ear at all times whether they are at school (and the teacher is talking) or at a performance. It's as if teenagers need a piece of technology with them at all times or else they suffer.

I am not saying that we should get rid of technology or even ban it from school; I simply think that teenagers need to understand that there is a time and a place for technology. As one veteran Regina mom who has raised three teens, comments, "With all of today's modern communication technology, youth are missing out on opportunities to have real and deep relationships."

Teenagers should be able to put down their cellphones and leave the MP3 player at home to spend some quality time with family and friends. Talk, play a game, go for a walk, do something enjoyable without technology. Teens need to put away the gadgets before it's too late and they end up staying in their own little technological world with no outside interactions.

by: Jillian Stewart, Leader-post

New iPhone app aimed at getting help to troubled teens

Kids may not come with user manuals, but a just-released technology-driven tool aims to make it easier to find help for hurt and troubled teenagers.

The process — recognizing a problem, identifying the causes and ultimately finding help — can be a complex puzzle for adults unfamiliar with the pressures teens face at middle and high schools and the resources available to help.

That dilemma begged an obvious question: “How can we put a tool in the hands of all those people?” said Eric Nidiffer, vice president of Turning Point Experience, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students avoid destructive influences in their lives.

For the past 10 months, father-son duo William and Eric Nidiffer have been working with the Southern Nevada Community Gang Task Force to produce that tool — a comprehensive iPhone application designed to educate adults about the top 20 issues teens face and provide them with the resources for finding help.

Read entire article here.

By Jackie Valley, www.lasvegassun.com

Experts warn of pitfalls teens face on social networking sites

A photo or snippet of information posted to a social networking site such as Facebook can become a digital first-impression of a person, and for some young people, it’s not a good one, an expert on cyberbullying said.

To make his point, Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, flashed a series of photos publicly displayed on Facebook of teens drinking, doing drugs and engaging in other questionable behavior.

“It’d be nice if I sat down with any of these kids and had a chat with them and got a feel for their integrity and their character,” said Hinduja, keynote speaker at a forum on cyberbullying, sexting and social network privacy.

“But we live in a society where we don’t take the time to do that. What we do is Google you...and make a snap judgment about you,” Hinduja said.

The Anti-Defamation League and Henderson Libraries hosted The ABCs of Cyberbullying panel discussion on Wednesday at the Paseo Verde Library.

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By: Rich Coleman, www.lasvegassun.com