The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Summer programs can be an excellent time to give your teenager a boost of self-esteem as well as helping them with  grade recovery  if they have been underachieving during the school year. If your teen has been making these bad choices for a while, chances are good it will take longer than 6-9 weeks to undo this negative behavior. However since making the decision to leap into a  residential treatment center or therapeutic boarding school  is not only an emotional one, it’s also very expensive — starting with a  summer program  can sometimes be a way to determine if your teen is a fit for the longer-term program. After attending a summer program, you can determine the following: 1. They come home and go back to school in the fall. 2. They continue with the residential therapy educational program. 3. They come home, go back to school and things don’t go so well, you know that he/she can go back to that program and finish it. Summer programs c...

Midwest Academy: Ex-students say they were tortured - NY Post - program is shut-down Make no mistake, when parents reach their wit's end with their troubled teenager they can be vulnerable and believe just about anything when they are searching for help. I was there once. My story or should I say nightmare , seems to be repeating itself with the headlines coming out of Iowa -- with the alleged WWASPS affiliated program Midwest Academy  (now closed). According the the latest news report; Midwest Academy Is Accused of Locking Students in Tiny Isolation Boxes for Days or More This is not any different than we heard from students a decade earlier in their many other programs that are now closed. It's sad that we are now years later and this type of abusive behavior is still going on. This is why I created my organization to help educate parents about the big business of the teen help industry .   It's not about frightening you, as I firmly believe that p...

By Constance Scharff, PhD Prescription ADHD medications like Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse are becoming increasingly popular for overworked and overscheduled college students. ADHD stimulants strengthen the brain’s inhibitory capacities, by increasing the amount of certain neurotransmitters, like dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. Students like these drugs because they enhance their study efforts. Prescription “ study drugs ” are commonly abused to increase concentration for last minute cramming or paper writing. The numbers vary significantly by school, with the greatest proportion of users at private and “elite” universities. Some researchers estimate about 30% of university students use stimulants non-medically. Students believe that they take these stimulants for the “right reasons,” to be more productive in classes and to stay afloat in a flood of intense competition. In the competitive atmosphere at many schools, students seldom take the time to consider short or l...