By Sandy, a local parent and CSUCI student.

I admit it, I avoided this “Reality Party” idea when my three kids were in high school. My role this past week was to play the cool mom, letting the kids drink and have fun. This wasn’t a stretch for me. Even my kids made a joke about me playing this role. The horrible things that could have happened at my house while kids were...

Written by a CSUCI student.

Many of us have someone close to us who is abusing alcohol and not even realizing it. It turns out that alcohol is the most common substance people turn to for fast relief. Alcohol provides temporary relief for some who suffer from low self-esteem and look for coping mechanisms. Peer pressure and feeling “lesser than others” can cause someone to...

Written by a CSUCI student.

Through working with BRITE, I was able to reflect on my own experiences involving drug and alcohol abuse. By bringing awareness to these dangerous activities I’ve been able to get a better understanding of why underage kids and even my own siblings participate in them. I wasn’t able to help or essentially persuade my siblings against drugs and...

October is the month of Halloween, which means costumes, spooky decorations, and parties. Celebrating with food and drink. Pumpkins. Candy. Alcohol. Teens will go out and celebrate with friends, and may be peer pressured to drink alcohol. It’s a good time to set some house rules and responsibilities, and talk to your kids about how to say no when offered alcohol, and what to do...

The following article is an excerpt from The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility’s webpage about Discussing Alcohol with Your College Student, found here. We thought this was an important and informative resource to share with our community.

We know many college students make responsible decisions about alcohol consumption. In fact, according to the 2018 Monitoring the...

Have you ever counted how many times you’ve seen drinking depicted as cool, exciting, and a rite of passage in movies, social media, and on television? Imagine being a teen and seeing this. The power that advertising and representation has on us is astounding, and our youth are especially vulnerable because their brains are still developing and they might not be thinking logically about...

This post was written by a senior at CSUCI.

I have a lot of friends, and parents of friends, who have differing opinions regarding their teens and alcohol. Some don’t care at all; they are the kind of parents who don’t have many rules at all for their kids, and although they aren’t directly informed about what their kids are doing, they don’t actually make any kind of...

This post was written by a CSUCI student. 

This topic is probably the most baffling one for me. I grew up in a very strict, traditional household where even talking about alcohol was a sore topic, let alone having my parents actually provide it for me. My parents would have the occasional beer or glass of wine once every few weeks. Their lives did not revolve around drinking, which meant...

While the summer months bring sunshine and freedom for teens, it can be challenging for parents to find healthy activities to keep their teens engaged and away from parties and risky behaviors. Summer means more freedom, and many homes with little or no supervision. This can create situations where drug and alcohol experimentation take place. 

During the summer months, car accidents spike...

The following article was published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Summer is a wonderful time for outdoor activities with family and friends. For some people, a day at the beach, on the boat, or at a backyard barbecue will include drinking alcoholic beverages. But risky drinking and summer activities don’t mix. Drinking impairs both physical and mental...

There is a strong connection between alcohol and sexual assault, for both teens and adults. Alcohol is the drug most used to facilitate sexual assault, and it’s used in half of all sexual assaults. Additionally, alcohol inhibits a teen’s ability to:

• Think clearly
• Set limits and make good choices
• Think about long-term consequences and control impulses
• Determine when a situation is...