The Today Show Focuses on Another NATSAP Program Member!

Secret life of teens: Internet addiction changes boy into ‘shell of a son’.

For Andrew Fulton, who is now 19, the problem began in high school. Outwardly, he was a typical “good” kid: an honors student and a talented musician. But he was spending more and more time online at home, surfing the web and playing video games up to six hours a day as a way to escape his stresses.

“It’s really like a therapeutic release. All that social anxiety I felt in school just went away because I could be whoever I wanted to be,” he said. “It’s kind of like a full-body buzz.”

Andrew lost 30 pounds and flunked out of college. His parents hardly recognized him when he came back home, calling him a “shell of a son.”

He spent six months at reSTART, the country’s first residential program for internet addiction. After intensive therapy, regular exercise and monitored computer use, Andrew graduated from the program this summer and is now back in college, where he hopes to start a student support group to help others.

“I know how harmful it was, and I don’t want to go back to that,” Andrew said. “It destroyed my life.”

http://bit.ly/NATSAPTodayShow2

The 2014 Fall Issue of the Youth Advocate is now available.

This issue contains information about our DC Fly In, the upcoming election and the latest State and Federal action on Mental Health.

http://www.natsap.org/assets/docs/14YouthAdvo…cate/sept%202014%20ya_09.17.14.pdf

The Youth Advocate is a periodically-published bulletin that contains information on government relations issues that may have a direct impact on our association’s members.

NATSAP Program Member Featured on the Today Show

Newport Academy, a NATSAP program member, recently had a chance to sit with Maria Shriver and discuss anxiety in teenagers:

High school students at the Newport Academy, a behavioral treatment center, revealed what it was like to be overwhelmed by the stress they felt from parents, friends, and school.

“I would always have trouble breathing when I was feeling anxious,” said 15-year-old Annamarie, who was a straight-A student.

“It’s a lot of fleeting thoughts in my head, a lot of fear, but I don’t really know what I’m afraid of,” recalled 17-year-old Jake, a popular athlete.

“I didn’t see any other people in my life struggling with anxiety, so I constantly felt like there was something wrong with me,” Ariana said.

http://bit.ly/NATSAPtodayshow

9/23 WEBINAR: 4 Critical Steps to Obtaining Coverage for Residential Treatment

The Autism Health Insurance Project (AHIP) will be hosting a webinar September 23, 2014 at 10 AM. Participants will learn the specifics of the new Federal Mental Health Parity regulations, as well as learn the critical steps families and Residential Treatment Centers (RTC) must take to maximize their chance of receiving insurance coverage for an RTC. This 1 hour Webinar will share the four critical steps to obtaining RTC insurance coverage.

 

The Webinar will be held on September 23, 10 AM and is appropriate for residential treatment administrators, mental health professionals and educational consultants who recommend RTCs and families. http://bit.ly/NATSAPinsurancewebinar

Shh, It’s a Secret.

We are excited to give you a sneak peak of the 2014-2015 NATSAP Member Directory! The online-version of the directory is up on the NATSAP website for you to view, and the hard copy will be mailed out end of September/beginning of October.

Inside, you will find 149 programs, 134 individual professionals, 6 affiliates, and 2 business partners. We are very happy to announce the addition of several Program Members to this year’s directory! Join us in welcoming Compass Rose Academy, Heartspring, Life of Purpose Treatment Center, Penikese, Red Oak Recovery, and Shepherd’s Hill Academy to the NATSAP family! The online-version of the directory will be updated as needed to include new members who join the Association.

Without further ado, NATSAP presents to you the cover art and online-version of the 2014-2015 NATSAP Member Directory!

Click Here to view.

 

Next Link ‘n Learn Workshop is October 23rd!

Join us in Sedona, Arizona to attend our upcoming Link ‘n Learn workshop! In previous workshops, participants have stated that the Link ‘n Learn program provided great value and helped to foster informative relationships. If you are an education consultant, the ability to provide your clients with the latest information about programs can be invaluable. Our Members have the opportunity to discuss their programs with the consultants that parents trust. Meet with several programs and consultants all in one place! The Link ‘n Learn workshop precedes our 2014 Southwest Regional Conference and is shaping up to be a blast!

http://www.natsap.org/link–n-learn-workshop—october-22-23–2014

 

Link ‘n Learn is a relationship-building workshop, and is a means for educational consultants and member programs to become better acquainted. The NATSAP/IECA Link ‘n Learn is limited to 25 member programs and 20-25 educational consultants.

The programs and educational consultants will be scheduled to meet each other over a series of appointments, lasting 20 minutes. At the end of each appointment, a NATSAP representative will signal the participants to move on to the next appointment.

This is a great opportunity for educational consultants to learn more about specific programs and widen their knowledge base for the benefits of the children and families that they serve.

September is Recovery Month!

Recovery Month aims to promote the societal benefits of alcohol and drug use disorder treatment, laud the contributions of treatment providers, and promote the message that recovery from alcohol and drug disorders in all its forms is possible. This year’s theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Speak Up, Reach Out,” encourages people to openly speak up about mental and substance use disorders and the reality of recovery, and promotes ways individuals can use to recognize behavioral health issues and reach out for help. Recovery Month spreads the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover. 

Visit: http://recoverymonth.gov for more information.