Response Responds

Now more than ever, we want to ensure that teens and their trusted adults have access to all of the resources that they need regarding factual and inclusive sexual, mental, and reproductive health and wellness.

The breakneck rate at which weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and the like infiltrated our media, our vernacular, and our everyday lives was astonishing. 

As always, here at Response for Teens, we want to provide caregivers and their young people with as much information as possible to make informed and meaningful decisions. So, before we go down all those conversational paths and more, we should first know what we’re talking about. Let’s cover the basics.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we checked in with one of our Response for Teens clinicians, Zatio Kone, to learn more about the subject.

“I really think that mental health is about learning how to live with the range of human emotions and learning how to tolerate everything that comes our way,” Zatio said. “It’s ok to struggle sometimes, it’s ok to feel less than great.

Sixteen-year-old Maya was not attending high school on a regular basis. With her parents separated, the oldest of four became quite isolated and spent many hours online. She had very little contact with people outside of social media.  Maya’s mother contacted JCFS Chicago’s Response for Teens to get help for her daughter. 

The Response for Teens outreach team took their talents to the Knapp School and Yeshiva recently to lead several workshops on Sexuality Education.

This year marks Nanci Dobkin’s sixth time as co-chair of Tuned In: The Larry Dobkin Event, the annual fundraiser for JCFS Chicago’s Response for Teens program. Her neighbor and family friend, Barry Rubin, who has served on the Response Advisory Council (RAC) since 2022, joins her as co-chair.

Overdose deaths are skyrocketing as a result of synthetic opioids like fentanyl being added to drugs without people knowing. Fentanyl is deadly, and most people who ingest have no idea that they were doing so.

Response for Teens would like to provide more young people with knowledge and skills that they can use to make better decisions and stay safe.  And as students prepare to go off to college, we wonder: what are the things that they may not learn in High School?

The ongoing stress, fear, grief, isolation and uncertainty created by the pandemic can wear anyone down, but many teens have had an especially tough time coping emotionally. In a recent WebMD poll, researchers found that 46% of 977 parents of teens said their child has shown signs of a new or worsening mental health condition since the start of the pandemic.

At Response for Teens, we strive to empower young women and offer support during a transitional time in their lives. These thoughtful book and film recommendations from our staff cover topics from feminism, intersectionality and what it means to be a woman today.