About Us
Supported by generous donations on behalf of:
The Ryan Whitney Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital
John Brooke Family Foundation
David Rosenberg of Prime Motor Group
The Copeland Family Foundation, Inc. of Milton, MA
Brief History
In 1998, 19-year old Ryan Whitney passed away in an alcohol-related drowning. Dr. John Knight had watched Ryan grow up in his neighborhood and was deeply moved. As a result, he decided to devote his career to adolescent substance use prevention and treatment, a field that was not adequately served at Boston Children’s Hospital at that time. In 2009, he founded the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program (ASAP), an outpatient clinic that stresses a multidisciplinary, family-centered approach to substance use treatment. Dr. Knight also founded the Center for Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Research (CeASAR). ASAP and CeASAR were the first programs of their kind to be located at a children’s hospital anywhere. Knight and his colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital became leaders in the field of substance use prevention, screening, early intervention and treatment. Since Dr. Knight’s retirement, CeASAR evolved into the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research (CABHRe) under the leadership of Co-Directors Sion Kim Harris, PhD and Lydia A. Shrier, MD, MPH.
In an attempt to make materials about teen substance use available to families, educators and healthcare professionals, CeASAR, in conjunction with Ryan Whitney’s family, produced Teen-Safe, an Internet-based educational intervention for parents of high school students. This site explains the effects of alcohol and drugs on the developing teen brain, and gives science-based strategies for protecting adolescents during the high-risk season of proms, graduation, and summer vacation. Nationally, greater than 30% of parents provide alcohol to their teenage children in the mistaken belief that they can protect them. Teen-Safe provides the science and stories that show this to be a very dangerous, ill-informed strategy.
In 2010, Teen-Safe was piloted in Ryan’s hometown of Milton, Massachusetts in partnership with Principal Dr. John Drodder, Superintendent Mary Gormley and other educators at Milton High School. Nearly all parents of graduating seniors completed the course. That year, there were no substance-related incidents at the high school’s prom or graduation, though in the previous year there had been five. Teen-Safe shows promise as an efficient and effective way to improve parent knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, resulting in decreased teen substance use.
Mission Statement
Our goal is to provide the latest science and true-life stories as educational materials to parents, teens and pre-teens to foster better family communications, promote resilience and healthy activities, and to reduce risky behaviors in teens with the goal of preserving their futures.
Leadership
Sion Kim Harris, PhD - Co-Director of CABHRe, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
With special thanks to:
John R. Knight, MD
Lon Sherritt, MPH
Erin Bray Gibson, MPH
Contact Us
Email:
teen-safe@childrens.harvard.edu
Phone:
1-617-355-5433
Mailing Address:
The Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research (CABHRe)
Boston Children’s Hospital, Mail Stop 3189
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115