
(Jan 28, 2025)
Lindsey Glass (lindsay@reachoutrecovery.com) is the President of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Club. She is the co-founder, with her mother, Leslie Glass, of “Reach Out Recovery”, an online recovery and wellness magazine (https://reachoutrecovery.com/). She grew up in New York City and received a BA from Johns Hopkins and MA from New York University. She has worked in publishing and communications, and served as a recovery advocate for 20 years. She wrote a self-help book, “100 Tips for Growing Up”, and with her mother has written documentaries and Reach Out Recovery books to help families and teens find emotional and social health and wellness. They published the book “Mother Daughter Relationship Makeover” in 2024.
Good health requires a combination of physical, emotional and social health. Being healthy requires understanding how these components work together. Lindsay reviewed the components of physical health, which include sleep, hygiene, nutrition, exercise, and no drugs! The brain is not fully developed until about age 25, so challenging decision-making can lead to risky behavior. She discussed how drugs and alcohol can damage brain function. Addiction focus is primarily on substance users, but ROR wants to help the family members to heal from the trauma.
She reviewed the components of emotional health, including expressing oneself appropriately, managing stress, managing emotions and feelings, decision-making, and problem solving. Teens can feel their emotions intensely, and many factors can trigger “highs” or “lows”. What can you do when you feel bad? Are you comfortable showing and telling people how you feel? Who can you talk to? Do you talk with anyone about your feelings or see other people express themselves in unhealthy ways? The #1 issue of teens is that they feel at some time like they are crazy; what are your stress relievers? Who and what affects your decision-making? How are your problem-solving skills?
The components of emotional help include social media, friends, family, concern for others, and helping others. What are the good things about social media? Do you believe everything you see and hear? Does it cause you stress or happiness? What about the impact of your friendships on your well-being? Does someone in your life contribute to your anxiety? How do you handle situations when you're concerned about someone? How do you handle peer pressure? How can you get help for depression, anxiety and emotional pain? Natural “highs” can include exercise, self-expression, working on a project, being in nature, accomplishing tasks, and being of service to others.