Meetings & Events

"How did that work out for you? A conversation with parents who survived the High School years"

Have you ever wondered if and how you will manage to guide your kids safely through high school? Wouldn’t it be great to hear and maybe get some advice from parents who have come out the other side? Connections invites you to come to listen to the stories of parents who have gained the wisdom of hindsight and want to share it with you. 

Have the opportunity to hear what they learned from the experience and have a discussion with them and other current LS parents about what has worked and what things didn’t go the way they were planned. This event focuses on parenting around substance use, but topics such as stress, dating, and technology are likely to come up as well.

“Prom, Parties and Parked Cars – How to Survive and Enjoy Prom Season”

The panelists and leaders of Community Connections explore the key logistics for Prom Night (Bus, Limo or Car to the prom?) as well as tips and strategies for handling last minute changes in Prom plans. This is an opportunity to brainstorm with other parents about how to handle the myriad issues that come up around Prom. The expectations is that parents will leave this event with a "Plan B" ready to be used, with a list of questions to ask your students and other parents, and the realization that we are all in this together.

This event is open to parents of all grades since it’s not unusual that student in ninth or tenth grader might are invited to attend  Junior or Senior Prom. Senior parents and guardians participation is encouraged as their experience and insight can be highly appreciated by the parents and guardians of younger students.

“Addictions: 5 Protective Factors. What Every Parent Should Know”

Come to learn, think about, and discuss the five greatest factors that put our children at risk for addiction and how to turn them into PROTECTIVE factors instead.  

Learn more about LS Community Connections and have the opportunity to talk with families in our district. This event covers many topics related to addictions and substance use and abuse, including the conversations families may want to have with their children in and around substance use. Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences or concerns in a safe environment, with the moderation of our School experts.

Take advantage of this event and become a resource for other families who might share similar experiences. Discovering you are not alone could be the first step for new approaches to difficult and emotionally consuming issues such as addictions, peer pressure and much more. 

"Hidden in Plain Sight: What are our kids up to? "

Adolescent substance use happens in all communities, including ours. LS Community Connections helps present "Hidden in Plain Sight," an interactive display for adults that showcases potential items in a teen’s bedroom that might signal risky behavior or substance use. This display is paired with educational posters and printed materials to increase caregiver awareness and provide resources for starting positive conversations with youth.  Walk through the display and then join us for a conversation with local Law Enforcement about what behaviors they are seeing in our communities, additional thoughts about the mock bedroom and reminders about social hosts laws.

Presented on January 24th, 2024

"Drug Story Theater: Back to Life"

Led by Psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Shrand, teens in the early stages of recovery from drugs and alcohol, are taught improvisational theater, and to help craft their own unique stories into a play about their seduction of, addiction to, and recovery from drugs and alcohol. 

The play is presented to middle, high school and college audiences in a way that  “the treatment of one becomes the prevention of many.” 

At the end of the performance,  Dr. Shrand will talk about the neuroscience of addiction and how it specifically affects the adolescent brain.  A  Q&A  between Dr. Shrand, the audience, and the teen-actors will follow up, where the teen-actors will have the opportunity to answer questions about their lived experiences and about different ways to open the conversation between teens and adults.

This is a highly well reviewed program and usually hard to book! We are very fortunate to have them visit our school.

This program is brought to LSRHS by the DA office, the Sudbury Health Department and Community Connections. 

For more information and to learn about this play on the news, please visit

https://www.drugstorytheater.org/

MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey Results

What are our students saying about their mental health?  What trends are we seeing in students’ substance use?  What specific things are stressing our students out?  Is there an increase in LS Students reporting that they have vaped in the last month?  How many LS students report driving after using marijuana?  These questions and more are addressed by the Metrowest Adolescent Health Survey, which monitors trends in health and risk behaviors among youth.  We administer this survey every two years and the 2023 survey is the 9th administration of this survey by the Metrowest Health Foundation.  The questions on the survey cover topics ranging from substance use to violence to mental health, and on September 28th, the results from the 2023 survey will be shared in a World Café format presented by current LS students at 7:00 in the LS cafeteria. Brought to you by Connections. Questions? Email us at community_connections@lsrhs.net.

Virtual Planning Meeting & Brainstorming with Dr. Meisel

Calling all interested Connections parents! 

Now that we've had a chance to look at the MetroWest Adolescent Health data we will be hosting a brainstorming session to talk about next steps and figure out what direction we want to go in and what we should do for our next event(s).  We are fortunate to have a fellow community member, Dr. Sam Meisel, with us on the call. 

Dr. Meisel  is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Boston University in the psychology department. His research and clinical work focuses on adolescent substance use (why teens start using, why they escalate their use, and how we can best prevent and treat adolescent substance use) and how friendships and caregivers influence adolescent substance use. Dr. Meisel's  support and expertise in these topics will positively impact on the work we are trying to do and we are grateful for his interest!

If you attended any of these events, please give us your FEEDBACK. We really appreciate it!