PRESS RELEASES
Warning: Teens at Risk
Day-long conference to address violence, suicide, drug abuse, other issues facing teens
March 9, 2001 -- Belmont, MA -- An ongoing spate of violence committed by teens has many parents, educators and politicians asking how we can keep America’s children safe. While there is no easy solution, a panel of national experts on teens will attempt to shed some light on this critical subject.
"Awesome Adolescence: Warning Teens at Risk. New Models for Prevention and Intervention," a special conference to be held Saturday, March 24 at the Charles Hotel, Cambridge, will bring together members of the U.S. Secret Service’s Safe School Initiative, National Threat Assessment Center and clinicians from McLean Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Cambridge Hospital.
Using videotaped case studies of actual school shooters, Robert Fein, PhD, and Brian Vossekuil of the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center and Safe Schools Initiative will discuss ways to prevent school violence. The conference will tackle other complex issues, such as teen depression and suicide, self-esteem, bullying, eating disorders, rape and post-traumatic stress disorder. Conference speakers will also present up-to-date research on the adolescent brain and discuss the emotional development of teens and the role parents play in their childrens’ lives.
"There is no doubt in my mind that today’s teens are at risk. Adolescence is a time of significant development, offering great opportunities for growth. On the flip side, however, adolescence is also a time when our young boys and girls must face the normative dangers in our 21st century culture," says William Pollack, PhD, director of the McLean Hospital Center for Men and Boys and a consultant to the Secret Service’s Safe School Initiatives, founded after the deadly Columbine High School shootings two years ago.
"The objective of this conference is to reach out to the parents, teachers, mentors and family members who interact with teens on a regular basis, to provide them with new approaches and new intervention techniques so that we can prevent another Columbine."
Pollack, the conference’s organizer, is the author of a New York Times best-seller dealing with the emotional health of boys, which was written based on clinical research he conducted at McLean involving interviews with more than 200 boys from throughout the Northeast United States. One of the major findings of this research was that adolescence is a time of crisis for many psychologically "healthy" middle-class boys, who, because of their gender, feel increased pressure to mask feelings of low self-esteem.
****Use of videotaped interviews of the school shooters is subject to prior approval of the U.S. Secret Service.