RESOURCES FOR THE PARENTS OF TROUBLED TEENS
Adult Children of Alcoholics
https://www.adultchildren.org
Adult Children of Alcoholics is a Twelve Step, Twelve Tradition program for women and men who grew up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional homes. We meet with each other in a mutually respectful, safe environment and acknowledge our common experiences. We discover how childhood affected us in the past and influences us in the present (“The Problem”). We take positive action. By practicing the Twelve Steps, focusing on “The Solution”, and accepting a loving Higher Power of our understanding, we find freedom from the past and a way to improve our lives today.
Al-Anon/Alateen
https://www.al-anon.alateen.org
For over 50 years, Al-Anon (which includes Alateen for younger members) has been offering hope and help to families and friends of alcoholics. It is estimated that each alcoholic affects the lives of at least four other people… alcoholism is truly a family disease. No matter what relationship you have with an alcoholic, whether they are still drinking or not, all who have been affected by someone else’s drinking can find solutions that lead to serenity in the Al-Anon/Alateen fellowship.
Alcoholics Anonymous
https://www.aa.org
Alcoholics Anonymous® is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
https://www.aacap.org
Children of Alcoholics Foundation
https://www.coaf.org
Children of substance abusers need help making sense of addiction and why their family has been affected. They need assistance understanding their parent’s behavior, which may include abuse and neglect. They need support as they cope with broken promises, confusion, anger, loss, and bereavement. And they need special help understanding their own special risk for drug and alcohol abuse.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
https://www.dbsalliance.org
The nation’s leading patient-directed organization focusing on the most prevalent mental illnesses – depression and bipolar disorder. The organization fosters an understanding of the impact and management of these life-threatening illnesses by providing up-to-date, scientifically-based tools and information written in language the general public can understand. DBSA supports research to promote more timely diagnosis, develop more effective and tolerable treatments and discover a cure. The organization works to ensure that people living with mood disorders are treated equitably.
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
https://www.istss.org
ISTSS is an international multidisciplinary, professional membership organization that promotes the advancement and exchange of knowledge about severe stress and trauma. This knowledge includes understanding the scope and consequences of traumatic exposure, preventing traumatic events and ameliorating their consequences, and advocating for the field of traumatic stress.
Mental Health InfoSource
https://www.mhsource.com/disorders
Nar-Anon
https://www.nar-anon.org
Nar-Anon is a twelve-step program designed to help relatives and friends of addicts recover from the effects of living with an addicted relative or friend. Nar-Anon’s program of recovery is adapted from Narcotics Anonymous and uses Nar-Anon’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The only requirement to be a member and attend Nar-Anon meetings is that there is a problem of drugs or addiction in a relative or friend. Nar-Anon is not affiliated with any other organization or outside entity
Narcotics Anonymous
https://www.na.org
NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We … meet regularly to help each other stay clean. … We are not interested in what or how much you used … but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
https://www.nami.org
NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness, a national organization including NAMI organizations in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to meet the NAMI mission through advocacy, research, support, and education.
National Center for Victims of Crime
The National Center for Victims of Crime is the nation’s leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims. Since 1985, we have worked with more than 10,000 grassroots
National Domestic Violence Hotline
https://www.ndvh.org
The National Domestic Violence Hotline answers more than 16,000 calls per month from victims, survivors, friends and family members, law enforcement personnel, domestic violence advocates and the general public. Hotline advocates provide support and assistance to anyone involved in a domestic violence situation, including those in same-sex relationships, male survivors, those with disabilities and immigrant victims of domestic violence. All calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline are confidential.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
https://www.nida.nih.gov
NIDA’s mission is to lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction
National Institute of Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov
The National Mental Health Association is the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. With more than 340 affiliates nationwide, NMHA works to improve the mental health of all Americans, especially the 54 million people with mental disorders, through advocacy, education, research and service.
National Mental Health Association
https://www.nmha.org
National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse
https://www.mhselfhelp.org
The National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse is a consumer-run national technical assistance center serving the mental health consumer movement. We help connect individuals to self-help and advocacy resources, and we offer expertise to self-help groups and other peer-run services for mental health consumers.
National Mental Health Information Center
https://www.mentalhealth.org
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Mental Health Information Center provides information about mental health via a toll-free telephone number (800-789-2647), this website, and more than 600 publications.
National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness
https://www.nrchmi.samhsa.org
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
https://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s mission is to provide immediate assistance to individuals in suicidal crisis by connecting them to the nearest available suicide prevention and mental health service provider through a toll-free telephone number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). It is the only national suicide prevention and intervention telephone resource funded by the Federal Government
Office of National Drug Control Policy
https://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
The principal purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Nation’s drug control program. The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences.
Parents, The Anti-Drug
https://www.theantidrug.com
TheAntiDrug.com was created by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign to equip parents and other adult caregivers with the tools they need to raise drug-free kids. Working with the nation’s leading experts in the fields of parenting and substance abuse prevention, TheAntiDrug.com serves as a drug prevention information center, and a supportive community for parents to interact and learn from each other.
Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PAL)
https://www.ppal.net
Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PAL) is an organization that promotes a strong voice for families of children and adolescents with mental health needs. PAL advocates for supports, treatment and policies that enable families to live in their communities in an environment of stability and respect.
Partnership for a Drug-Free America
https://www.drugfreeamerica.org
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is a nonprofit coalition of communication, health, medical and educational professionals working to reduce illicit drug use and help people live healthy, drug-free lives.
Sidran Traumatic Stress Foundation
https://www.sidran.org
The Sidran Institute, a leader in traumatic stress education and advocacy, is a nationally-focused nonprofit organization devoted to helping people who have experienced traumatic life events.
Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC)
The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) works to hold social media companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users. SMVLC seeks to apply principles of product liability to force social media companies to elevate consumer safety to the forefront of their economic analysis and design safer platforms that protect users from foreseeable harm. Only civil litigation can force social medias to compensate victims for the harm caused by their products. Successful court recoveries on behalf of current social media victims will not furnish the compensation they need and deserve but also incentivize social media companies to design safer products to avoid having to pay court awards in the future. While government regulation plays an important role in curbing known abuses, the civil justice system can force social media companies to act proactively to include consumer safety in the cost of production.
https://SocialMediaVictims.org
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
https://www.samhsa.gov
SAMHSA’s vision is a life in the community for everyone. SAMHSA’s mission is to build resilience and facilitate recovery for people with or at risk for substance abuse and mental illness.
OTHER:
Child Care Aware
www.childcareaware.org
800.424.2246
Arizona State University Child and Family Services
www.asu.edu/mu/family/resource.htm
For a checklist, click on Choosing Child Care
National Association for the Education of Young Children
www.naeyc.org
800.424.2460
Florence Crittenton Home
[girls 12-18 in crisis; not just pregnancy]
www.flocrit.org
602.274.7318
Children’s Defense Fund
www.childrensdefense.org
202.628.8787
National Child Care Information Center
www.nccic.org
800.616.2242
