Alcohol & Drug Resources

ALCOHOL & DRUG RESOURCES

CARES Programs & Resources

CARES Program, Kevin A, Sabet, PhD

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) promotes an evidence based approach to marijuana policy that prioritizes public health.

CARES Program

Explore the physiology of addiction with Ruth A. Potee, MD. A recording of this program can be viewed here.

Women and Alcohol: A Community Conversation

CARES Program

You think about what you eat. Do you think about what you drink? Join local experts as they discuss alcohol and women’s social drinking, role modeling, and the rise of alcohol use among women. A recording of this program can be viewed here.

Additional Resources

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Fentanyl is being pressed into fake pills made to look like OxyContin®, Xanax®, Adderall®, and other pharmaceuticals. These fake pills contain no legitimate medicine.

International Overdose Awareness Day

An overdose means having more of a drug (or combination of drugs) than your body can cope with. There are a number of signs and symptoms that show someone has overdosed, and these differ with the type of drug used. All drugs can cause an overdose, including prescription medication prescribed by a doctor. It is important to know the right amount and the right time to take your medication. It is also vital to know what drugs should not be mixed, and to seek help if you feel you are not in control of your drug use

International Overdose Awareness Day

North America continues to experience the highest drug-related mortality rate in the world, accounting for one in four drug-related deaths globally, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports. In April 2021, the Centre for Disease Control has estimated that the number of people in the USA who had died from overdose in the 12-month period to the end of September 2020 was 90,237.

Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility

Parents: navigating the teenage years with our children can prove overwhelming. From academics and sports, to social media and technology, kids are faced with countless pressures and often times, risky situations. It’s important for parents to guide their teens, and their developing brains, through a healthy lifestyle. As kids become adults and go through changes and transitions, it’s important to keep having conversations.

Pediatric emergency room doctor Katie Friedman discusses how parents should talk to their kids about alcohol and other risky behaviors, such as underage cannabis use. She opens up about brain science and how conversations with kids should be seen as teachable moments in the ongoing effort to keep kids substance-free.

Hear more from experts.

Get Smart About Drugs: A DEA Resource for Parents, Educators & Caregivers

Parenting can be the greatest job on earth—and the toughest. You want your children to be healthy, but you worry about what they will do when faced with the decision to try drugs or alcohol.

The Washington Post

Most parents don’t want their teens to binge drink. But parents who attempt to provide safe parameters — like having teens drink in the basement with friends — increase the likelihood that their offspring will become binge drinkers.

Partnership to End Addiction

Parents often find themselves between a rock and a hard place when raising teens. It’s a delicate balance respecting your child’s growing independence while still needing to set rules and boundaries. Finding the right balance requires effective communication, making constant adjustments and staying in touch with what’s going on in their life.

New Canaan Police Department

There is a drop box located in the New Canaan Police Station lobby for household disposal of any unwanted medications, including pet medications. Residents are encouraged to dispose of their unwanted medications on a regular basis to prevent their misuse or abuse.

Sports Illustrated

A special report from L. Jon Wertheim and Ken Rodriguez on the rising use and abuse of heroin among young athletes across the U.S. and the connection between sports, painkillers and heroin addiciton.

TheDarienite.com

The widespread abuse of painkillers derived, like heroin, from opium, and falling prices for heroin in recent years and months, the problem has grown. After trying heroin or abusing painkillers, addiction can start in less than a week and be extremely difficult to break.

Stress & Anxiety

STRESS & ANXIETY

CARES Programs & Resources

CARES Program: November 2021

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Examine the impact emotions have on our lives and learn strategies to manage them. Dr. Bogart’s slides can be accessed here.

CARES Program, Barbara McLaughlin

This workshop will help you get through the holidays! Handling tantrums, prioritize activities during the holidays – what is important to you and your family? Re-focus on the giving aspect of the season, whittle down those lengthy gift lists, and more.

New Canaan CARES

Stress is contagious – children can sense when their parents are overwhelmed – so try to manage your own stress (self-care) and don’t start a discussion when you are feeling anxious

New Canaan CARES

We have compiled a list of books about stress and anxiety in children.

Additional Resources

GoZen.com - Anxiety Relief Programs for Kids

As parents, we would like to shield our children from life’s anxious moments, but navigating anxiety is an essential life skill that will serve them in the years to come. Try these simple phrases to help your child identify, accept, and work through their anxious moments.

GoZen.com - Anxiety Relief Programs for Kids

Try these eight 60-second anxiety relief tools for kids big and small. 

Southwest Regional Mental Health Board

Mental health help is just a click away. HealthyMindsCT has compiled a list of mobile apps and websites to help manage anxiety and depression.

Child Mind Institute

Fears are part of being a kid. Monsters in the closet. Dogs who come too close. Loud thunder. But experts say parents can’t — and shouldn’t — always be there to help kids calm down. Teaching kids how to manage childhood fears on their own builds confidence and independence

Community Mindfulness Project in New Canaan

The Community Mindfulness Project’s mission is to offer a variety of mindfulness and heart-opening practices to help people support their physical, psychological, emotional and social well-being.

Frank Bartolomeo, Ph.D - Director of Behavioral Health Services

Resilience has been variously defined as: normal development under difficult circumstances, or the human capacity to face, overcome and ultimately be strengthened by life’s adversities and challenges.

Child Mind Institute

Teens aren’t usually enthusiastic about talking to their parents — particularly about uncomfortable topics. And it can be really, really hard for them to admit they’re having difficulty with their feelings. But it’s so important to let them know how to tell when garden-variety worries have morphed into an anxiety disorder,
and when they should ask for help.

Mental Health America

Instead of acting on feelings right away, use PATH to find the path to calm.

Mental Health America

The rst rule of caring for your child’s emotional or behavior struggles is that there are no rules. Parenthood doesn’t come with a manual and there will be a lot of trial and error as you gure out what works best to help your child.

Mental Health America

Negative emotions like fear, sadness, and anger are a basic part of life and sometimes we struggle with how to deal with them effectively. It can be tempting to act on what you’re feeling right away, but that often doesn’t fix the situation that caused the emotions. In fact, it may lead to more problems to deal with down the road.

Tracey Masella, LCSW - Silver Hill Hospital

How to have a productive conversation with your child regarding their stress.

GoZen.com - Anxiety Relief Programs for Kids

Worry is protection. Worry is a survival mechanism that still plays a role in modern times.

with Lost Got Found's Emily Torchiana

Talking About It Host Cindy Graziano talks with Emily Torchiana, Founder of Lost Got Found, about the personal journey she undertook nationwide to shatter the stigma surrounding mental health. Rather than suffer in silence as many do, Emily seeks to help others who also struggle with mental illnesses by sharing her personal experience of suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, social anxiety, and overcoming a suicide attempt.

Resilience & Self Esteem

RESILIENCE & SELF ESTEEM

CARES Programs & Resources

CARES Program with Dr. Chris Bogart, Ph.D

Learn about two critical life skills for wellness, parenting styles, and tips for promoting wellness in your home. 

Additional Resources

HealthyChildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics

It’s not possible to protect our children from the ups and downs of life. Raising resilient children, however, is possible and can provide them with the tools they need to respond to the challenges of adolescence and young adulthood and to navigate successfully in adulthood.

Big Life Journal

Positive thinking is important because it broadens your sense of possibility and opens your mind, allowing you to build new skills. Positive thinking broadens and builds. It also makes children (and adults) more resilient.

Today's Parent

There are better ways to build self-esteem than heaping on praise for everything kids do—starting with helping them become competent in the world.

A Fine Parent

On their journey to self-discovery and learning to be comfortable in their own skin, our children actively seek our acceptance and validation.

Silver Hill Hospital

Why Mindfulness? Mindfulness mitigates the effects of bullying, enhances focus in children with ADHD, reduces attention problems, improves mental health and well-being, and improves social skills.

Silver Hill Hospital

Building resilience — the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress — can help our children manage stress and feelings of anxiety and uncertainty.

Silver Hill Hospital

Learned early, social-emotional skills can help children overcome challenges, avoid unhealthy behavior, improving a variety of outcomes for adulthood. Studies show that social-emotional skills can lead to better education, employment, physical and mental health, and fewer problems with substance abuse, antisocial behavior, or relationships.

Services

SERVICES

We are the designated Behavioral Health Action Organization (RBHAO) for Southwestern Connecticut. We support & coordinate behavioral health initiatives (mental health, suicide, substance misuse, and problem gambling) in Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton. We are the bridge between the region and state.

www.rtor.org is a free online service that helps people with mental health concerns connect with expert treatment and services. Through the website, families and individuals can contact a Resource Specialist by phone or email for free personalized help with a problem, obtain information about best practices, or consult the Directory of Family-Endorsed Providers for recommendations on vetted programs and practitioners.

The mission of the Department of Human Services is to help all New Canaan residents function optimally by developing programs and activities that address developmental needs, as well, by helping residents obtain appropriate social services and resources.

Silver Hill is an independent, not-for-profit psychiatric hospital that is nationally accredited by the independent Joint Commission. Silver Hill has been a standout among the top psychiatric hospitals in Connecticut and beyond, for adults and adolescents, since it’s founding in 1931.

The mission of The Child & Family Guidance Center is to provide culturally informed mental health services and complementary supports to children, teenagers, and their families, regardless of their ability to pay.

Our goal is for all Fairfield County children to be emotionally and psychologically healthy so that they can reach their maximum potential at home, at school and in life.

 

Kids In Crisis is here to serve any kids who are experiencing a crisis. This does not mean that a child is a “problem child” or a “troubled kid,” but rather a child who is in the midst of a family crisis or personal crisis. Kids In Crisis provides individualized care to each child, including, as appropriate and needed, working with the family.

TurningPointCT.org was developed by young people in Connecticut who are in recovery from mental health and substance use issues. While we’re not clinicians, we know what it’s like to feel alone, stressed, worried, sad, and angry. We’ve lived through the ups and downs of self-harm, drugs and alcohol, and the struggle to find help. Fortunately, we found what worked for us. Our goal is to provide information and support to help you choose your path so that you don’t have to struggle the way we did.

NAMI Connecticut plays an active role providing support, education, and advocacy at the community level. We operate support groups to let people know they are not alone and to be there with information and support when needed. Our affiliates speak publicly to educate others about mental health conditions and provide educational programs, free of cost, to youth and young adults, parents, individuals, and families affected by mental illness. They advocate for effective and timely services from their local service providers, and they offer hope to those experiencing the impact of mental illness.

Leadership Development

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPEMENT

Forbes

The beauty of building children into leaders is that it’s the little things we do every day that mold them into the people they’ll become.

National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition

Youth development is a process that prepares a young person to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood and achieve his or her full potential. Youth development is promoted through activities and experiences that help youth develop social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies.

Cars & Curfews

CARS & CURFEW

U.S. News - Health

Setting parameters together can help your child learn to make sensible decisions with their time.

CDC - Parents Are The Key

Create a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement that puts your rules in writing to clearly set expectations and limits. Work with your teen to outline hazards to avoid and consequences for breaking rules. Keep it on the fridge and update it as your teen gains experience and more driving privileges.

CDC - Parents Are The Key

Having regular conversations about safety, practicing driving together, and leading by example go a long way in ensuring your teen makes smart decisions when they get behind the wheel.

Parenting Toolkit

PARENTING TOOLKIT

CARES Programs & Resources

CARES Program, Speaker: Lenore Skenazy

After her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on NPR, Fox News, and everywhere in between, Lenore wrote Free-Range Kids, the book-turned-movement. She has been profiled in The New Yorker, hosted the reality show “World’s Worst Mom,” and has lectured everywhere from Disney to Microsoft to schools across the country.

You can learn more about Lenore Skenazy here.

CARES Program, author Katherine Wintsch

No one is perfect. How do we make peace with our imperfections and learn to celebrate ourselves? This program will help you understand why it’s essential to recognize our shortcomings and move forward, not just accepting, but also celebrating who we are.

CARES Program, October 2021

with Dr. Lauren Pote, PhD.

Leave feeling empowered understanding: How children interact at different ages and how healthy relationships develop, ways to foster independence in your child while navigating friendships, how to talk to your children about the “typical” challenges they may encounter, and how/when can parents get involved

CARES Program, Andree Palmgren, LPC

Ready for spring? We sure are! A new season is a wonderful time to reset our parenting priorities and revive our teens’ developing sense of independence and autonomy. Spring will bring more opportunities for our teens to gather with their friends outside. How do we balance our teen’s social needs with our family’s guidelines?

CARES Program, Dr. Lisa Damour, Dr. Michael Reichert

It is not boy versus girl. It is boy AND a girl. What is the same and what is different? Why should we differentiate them? Join Dr. Lisa Damour and Dr. Michael Reichert for an evening filled with lessons, myth busters and more.

CARES Program, October 2021

with Dr. Michelle Albright, PhD. As we sprint out of the gate, how do we keep the important family time & lessons we’ve learned intact? Family paths may have taken different twists and turns but remembering how we got there, is what matters. Set the pace for fall with tips and strategies to keep your family dynamics on the right path.

CARES Program, Amy Alamar, EdD

Raising healthy children with an ability to sustain meaningful relationships is a challenge even in the most ideal situations. Add on hormones, attitude, personality, and technology – welcome to tween and teen years. A recording of this program can be viewed here.

CARES Program, Amanda Craig, PhD, LMFT

The stage between elementary and teen years is a little window called the tweens years where we see massive brain restructuring that will change our little kids into legit middle schoolers. The changes impact their social and emotional development in big ways.

CARES Program, Alexandra Potts

Understand and embrace the person your child will become. Our children will likely lead lives that are very different from ours. Our job is to help them understand themselves so they can thrive. It is not our job to make them happy nor make it all easy for them.

CARES Program, Cristina Young, LCSW

Cristina Young will address the importance of good self-care since this quarantine will require sustainability out of all of us. Cristina will provide concrete strategies that parents can put into action at the dinner table that night. Learn tips on how to manage conflicts, improve communication, and strengthen relationships within the family. 

CARES Program, Dr. Lauren Pote

Come learn about friendship skills during each developmental stage. What can we expect our children to understand about friendship and how can we help them while fostering their independence?

CARES Program

Learn how to help your child get organized and the best way to plan ahead for success in school!

CARES Program<i?

Learn about positive discipline for preschool and elementary students in this program.

CARES Program

Do you feel sandwiched with the challenges of being a caregiver for an older family member while raising your own children? This panel will cover caregiver roles, adjusting expectations and alleviating caregiver stress.

CARES Program, Cristina Young, LCSW

Parents will learn to anticipate and understand the typical conflicts that arise with teens based on recent brain research. Parents will learn how to manage the emotions teens trigger in them. Parents should leave feeling better equipped to handle the highs and lows of the adolescent years.

CARES Program, Amanda Craig, PhD, LMFT

This winter may seem a little different than years before. Our younger children have gone through a massive pandemic and as winter approaches they may be gearing up for another round of isolation or an interruption in their social interactions

New Canaan CARES

Meaningful moments (it doesn’t have to be hours but it has to be time when
you are focused on them) with your child create a sense of connection which
builds resilience!

New Canaan CARES

Homework can be tough for families in this busy day and age. Everyone is tired after a long day, and the activities schedule is packed. However, homework provides a time to review learning, prepare for the next day and to develop responsibility. Here are some thoughts to help you approach homework in a way that will have long-term value.

New Canaan CARES

Volunteer with your family and promote a family culture of caring.

New Canaan CARES, Jake Kircher

Our students are facing tremendous presumes: athletic, academic, social, and scheduling. How can we as parents help our students navigate these pressures?

New Canaan CARES, Bunny Potts

Getting the most out of your parent-teacher conference: There are so many topics that parents and teachers discuss at conference time that the time slides by all too fast. Here are some hints to help you maximize the upcoming conference times with teachers.

Additional Resources

LiveGirl

Practice mindfulness five days a week!

Parents.com

Having a hard time getting your children to follow directions? Me too. So my friends and I decided to try our own group therapy. Don’t laugh—it works!

Child Mind Institute

We want our kids to be appreciative and not take things for granted, and learning to be grateful can improve kids’ relationships, ability to empathize, and overall happiness. If you are looking for ways to reinforce the importance of gratitude or would like to find other meaningful ways your kids can show appreciation, here are some tips

Search Institute

Children who have high levels of these assets get involved in fewer risky behaviors and are much more likely to exhibit the positive values, such as leadership, good health, diversity and success in school. We all have the power to build assets in our young people.

Huffpost

One of the most powerful ways that children learn is by playing, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasized. Play also helps buffer toxic stress, improves executive functioning, and builds relationships.

 

BigLifeJournal

Learn how to set effective goals with these tips!

Your Teen Magazine

We all lose it with our kids sometimes. For many of us, the teen years can be rough. It’s not that teenagers are inherently terrible (really, I promise, they’re not), or that we parents are inherently flawed (again, I promise, we’re not). The point here is that conflict with your teen is a normal part of the parent-child relationship, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing anything wrong or that there is anything wrong with your kid.

Child Mind Institute

Why are holidays so fraught? Because expectations are heightened, and holidays can feel like a test of how happy and successful your family is. And if you have children with psychiatric or learning disorders, even favorite traditions can turn into a test of stamina and patience

Big Life Journal

Being mindful is a great SUPERPOWER to have because it can help you feel
calm, focus, and even become healthier! And like with anything else, the more you practice the better you become at it. So start practicing being mindful using these Mindful Brain Breaks!

MindBodyGreen.com

“My hope for the mindfulness class was to give the kids some tools they can use anytime: tools to calm down, slow down and feel better when they are troubled. I sure wish I had these tools at my disposal when I was their age. Imagine if all the children around the Earth learned to use these tools during their childhoods. What a change our world would experience within just one generation!”

Alexandra Potts

We live in a very privileged yet demanding community where children have countless options for school-based and extra-curricular activities. This is the good news and the bad news. Each family must set its own course based on their own values and goals as well as the needs and wants of their children.

NPR

Have you ever paid your kid for good grades? Have you driven to school to drop off a forgotten assignment? Have you done a college student’s laundry? What about coming along to Junior’s first job interview? Parents are too worried about their children’s future achievements to allow them to work through the obstacles in their path

Child Development Institute

The goal of parenting is to teach kids to develop self-discipline. When parents learn and apply the three Fs of Effective using the parenting techniques in this article, they find that yelling, screaming, and spanking disappear and a positive relationship is established. 

Aha! Parenting

When your child is hijacked by adrenaline and other fight or flight hormones, he can’t learn. Remember that all “misbehavior” is an expression, however misguided, of a legitimate need.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

A role model is a person who serves as an example by influencing others. For many children, the most important role models are their parents and caregivers. Children look up to a variety of role models to help shape how they behave in school, relationships or when making difficult decisions.

Child Mind Institute

As kids get older, boundaries for social interaction are important too. They need to learn to set boundaries for themselves and respect those of others. And that takes empathy — being able to recognize what others want and need, as well as what they themselves want and need.

YourTeenMag.com

The Parenting Paradox—We Want Them to be Independent, But . . .

Happily Family

Sometimes kids just need a good cry and to be held. But what are the other ways we can help our kids to calm down? And what about our own feelings? If we can calm ourselves down, then we role model and teach our kids to handle their own feelings.

Child Mind Institute

Holidays are supposed to be happy family events, but a lot of times they can be very stressful.

FilterFreeParents.com

“Dear Parent: This is the letter that I wish I could write. This fight we are in right now. I need it. I need this fight. I can’t tell you this because I don’t have the language for it and it wouldn’t make sense anyway. But I need this fight. Badly.”

Child Mind Institute

The teenage years have a lot in common with the terrible twos. During both stages our kids are doing exciting new things, but they’re also pushing boundaries (and buttons) and throwing tantrums. The majordevelopmental task facing both age groups is also the same: kids must pull away from parents and begin to assert their own independence. No wonder they sometimes act as if they think they’re the center of the universe.

Parents.com

While you want to make your children happy, you also want to raise kind, compassionate people. You want them to become grateful and appreciative adults. Find the perfect balance with these expert tips.

ReachOut.com

A self-care plan can help you enhance your health and wellbeing, manage your stress, and maintain professionalism as a worker with young people. Learn to identify activities and practices that support your wellbeing as a professional and help you to sustain positive self-care in the long-term.

Sleep & Bedtime Battles

SLEEP & BEDTIME BATTLES

EmpoweringParents.com

As every parent knows, fights over bedtime can be one of the biggest power struggles you’ll have with your child, whether they’re five or fifteen. The truth is, many kids just don’t want to go to bed at night.

HealthyChildren.org

Unless carefully managed, bedtime routines can be drawn out almost indefinitely, thus defeating the purpose for which they’re intended.

Family Resources

FAMILY RESOURCES

NewCanaanLibrary.org

At New Canaan Library, we are the community’s center for inspiration and discovery. The Library is the place to discover a new interest, learn a new skill and find a new passion. We make learning straightforward and efficient for everyone–whether it’s hands-on, listening to an expert, finding the right article or simply reading a book.

New Canaan Chamber of Commerce

Each of the events was conceived as a way to encourage street traffic in the business district and/or provide fundraising opportunities for the Chamber or other local non-profits.

NewCanaanNature.org

The New Canaan Nature Center is a not-for-profit environmental education organization dedicated to inspiring people of all ages to respect, protect, and enjoy the world of nature.

BigLifeJournal.com

Here are 25 fun and simple ideas to improve in health/self-care, relationships, growth, and adventure.

The New York Times

Whether your family mealtime happens every night or only once a week, in the morning before school or late-night for just dessert, it’s important to take advantage of whatever opportunity you have to nourish the mind, soul and stomach of everyone at the table.