“I had a bit of a rougher childhood than most. My mom was a drug addict and an alcoholic. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the house, all alone.”

Charles was without a home at the age of 18, but he’s not letting that define him. Thanks to generous people like you supporting Spectrum programs, Charles and other young people are building their resilience.

You can meet a group of young adults in our community facing homelessness, addiction, and struggles with mental health, and hear their stories of resilience in this video from Parent Co., made by Brendan Bubion.

Thanks, Parent Co., for sharing this story!

The post Resilient: A Parent Co. Story appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“I myself feel very guilty and a failure as parent because I knew this could happen to him. I talked to him about it several times…” she wrote. “But talking and a good family weren’t enough.”

You can read Mark’s response in the Washington Post here. And let us know your thoughts.

If you know a young person 12-30 who needs help with their addiction, our counselors can help. Call (802) 864-7423 x310 or click here to make an appointment.

The post The words you never want to hear a parent say appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Our Executive Director, Mark Redmond, spoke on Friday, February 6th at the TEDx Burlington event.

Mark told a story about how he’d received an email from someone asking, “I am going to be teaching a parenting class at a local school. What advice would you give to a room full of parents?”

His answer also appeared in The Huffington Post.

“The most powerful and important thing a parent can do for a child is to BELIEVE in that child, and to express that . . . When I look back at my life and think of the adults who had the greatest impact on me, it was the adults who believed in me and in what I was capable of, even when I didn’t believe in me.”

As Mark put it, “Parenting is work . . . It’s going to Little League games and dance recitals, not that you have to make every single one, but it’s important for you to be at some.”

He also spoke about the importance of modeling behavior that parents want their children to have, too. “If we want our children to be kind, compassionate, caring, energetic and responsible, we have to model these traits for them. They need to see us live these things out, over and over, consistently. There are no short cuts around that.”

Finally, and most importantly, Mark says, “a parent should tell their child ‘I love you,’ and keep saying that up through adolescence, adulthood and to the end of earthly existence. Don’t presume they know it. They need to hear it. So you should say it.”

Read Mark’s full article here.

The post What Advice Would You Give a Room Full of Parents? appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

Credit: frolicsome

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the impact of “helicopter parents” (who hover to protect their kids from negative experiences) on the ability of their kids to handle life’s challenges as they grow up.

A growing body of research that tells us how important learning how to tolerate life’s bumps is to healthy human development. Success is great, but we can learn a lot from mistakes as well.

Our associate executive director of clinical programs, Annie Ramniceanu, knows this all too well. “We’re seeing more and more youth here at Spectrum who don’t have the ability to withstand failure—to pick themselves back up, dust themselves off, and try again.”  She knows from science and experience that resiliency and persistence are often the biggest factors in a teen’s success and that we all need to keep this in mind as parents, teachers, and community members.

For more on steps you can take to encourage resiliency in your own kids, see this article by Tim Elmore.

The post How Do You Encourage Resiliency in Your Kids? Park the Helicopter appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.