Insights from Edith Adams, M.S.W., LICSW

Anyone who has a big sister can probably relate. As a little kid, I looked up to my sister and assumed that anything she said was gospel. So when faced with the choice of where to go to prep school, I followed her (in retrospect, definitely not a great choice for me) and worse than that, since my school’s advising system left something to be desired, I looked to her academic choices and modeled my selections after hers.Read more

With students of all ages now having to study at home for the foreseeable future, families are understandably questioning how they are going to survive. With many parents having to work remotely, parents and kids can think of themselves as “in this together!” Read more

I recently met with a family whose 16-year-old daughter, Paige, was refusing to go to school. Her parents reported that Paige was a bright student with a history of strong school performance. Recently, her grades had dropped, and her parents were puzzled about what was going on. They also said that she had distanced herself from longtime friends and was spending more time in her room. Once a compliant, friendly girl, Paige was now fighting with her parents who felt she was being willful and defiant in refusing to go to school; they could not understand why she was not open to reason and why she was willing to compromise her bright future. Read more

With some of the world’s premier therapeutic programming located among vast mountain ranges, oceanfront beaches, and remote forests, it’s understandable that parents wonder: What’s so therapeutic about surfing? How does my daughter address her issues while caring for a baby calf? How does sleeping under the stars help my son feel better? Read more

I had been planning to refer a young adult to a transitional college support program in Texas when Hurricane Harvey threw a wrench into my plans.Read more

When my daughter was in high school, her physics teacher lamented that while she was not afraid of the most complex physics problems, she was stymied by remembering to bring a pencil to class.Read more

As I reflect back on professional experiences as both a social worker and learning specialist and personal memories of parenthood, I find myself coming back again and again to the words of a former boss and mentor that have rung true to me over the years. Read more