Tommy Kelleher
Staff Writer
Local therapist Dr. Gregory Allen, City Prosecutor Joan Jenkins and Mira Costa Resource Officer John Loy spoke on Oct. 28 at the Manhattan Beach library at a discussion called “The State of Our Teens.”
The panelists focused the discussion on Manhattan Beach teenagers’ mental health, crime and drug use in an attempt to spread awareness on prevalent issues teens are facing.
“There’s a lot of pressure to achieve, to be the super kid in activities, clubs, sports [or] whatever it is,” Allen said. “I think that [this] can be overwhelming.”
Throughout the discussion, panelists emphasized the importance of positive family structures and communication between parents and children. Allen focused on strategies to improve relationship dynamics between parents and their children. The other two panelists, Jenkins and Loy, talked about restorative justice programs and their rehabilitative consequences for criminal behavior.
“[These programs] help the family because now they’re all communicating with each other,” Loy said. “[It] helps the family because now they’re all communicating with each other.”
A new program called Mira Costa High School Families Connected will hold additional discussions at Costa’s Small Theatre on Wednesday and Dec. 7 on similar topics to those discussed at “State of Our Teens.”
“The value is in creating this community where there are people who know that there are other people who feel the same way that they do,” Costa Families Connected co-founder Ellen Rosenberg said.
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