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Uploaded: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 3:24 PM

Resources and support in the wake of tragedy  

Posted by Concerned Parernt, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2009 at 10:42 am

Thanks for listing these resources.

There are other resources that can be accessed including 12 Step Program resources. These would be for both the teens and older folks as well. I understand there is a new AA meeting focusing on teens sponsored by the Palo Alto First Congregational Church on Thursdays from 4-5pm in the Youth Room behind the church. That church is located at Embarcadero and Louis Roads. Also for teens is Alateen whose meetings can be searched for online. And for the parents, there is Alanon and AA (excellent SC County AA website with upwards of 500 meetings a week to chose from in this county alone).

Alcohol and other drugs cause much depression amongst all segments of society and in every age group. There is help!

Posted by Noel, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Is anyone organizing a watch group for the the railroad crossings? If so it should be publicized too as it is a big task that will need many volunteers.

Posted by Concerned Parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 23, 2009 at 12:36 pm

If you think this an effective way of dealing with this problem, why don't you step up to the plate and volunteer to organize it?

I attended the meeting and didn't hear any mention of anyone organizing teams of people to be at all the train crossings 24/7. After the presentation, I drove over the tracks at E. Meadow and there were two squad cars there. I really don't think that is the answer either. Personally, I think that a volunteer watch group would be a huge task to accomplish. I believe it is more important to try to get at the root causes of these tragedies. Early recognition of depression, identifying kids at risk and getting them help I think is much more important than having guards at the train tracks. Unfortunately, there are other ways that kids can harm themselves. It is imperative that we come up with actions that can help these kids rather than having a bunch of panels that don't really shed much light on things.

I was rather appalled at the way the panel started out with all six of them on stage (3 adeult "experts" and three young people who are experts in their own lives). There were long intros for the "experts" who then went to sit down in the audience while the first "expert" made their presentation with slides leaving the young people on the stage in the semi-darkness. I thought it was very unthoughtful and gave the young people a message that I am sure nobody wants them to get. I would have felt "less than" if I was part of a panel and was treated that way. Then, I don't think that the young people were given enough opportunities to address questions or even to attempt to give the audience some solid information about what it is like to live as a young person in this community. How about a kid's night where we leave the "experts" off the panel?

Posted by another concerned parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 26, 2009 at 6:58 am

During the panel introduction, I was more excited to have the students introduced and felt sad they were not introduced with the others on the panel . Could this be part of our problem?

Too bad more time wasn't allowed to address the public's questions and concerns instead of the slide show presentation that we have already heard.

I was glad the mindfulness table was there.

I thought how consoling it would have been IF, at the start of the forum, THE ROOM WAS SILENT for 30-60 SECONDS to reflect.....

Medication needs to be the VERY last resort (IF DECIDED) AND SIDE EFFECTS AND WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS MUST BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD. I feel our doctors/professionals are not addressing this enough.

I also wish I knew more of the history of suicides in our community,i.e, were they on meds? did they go off the meds, for how long was treatment, were they being CLOSELY monitored?

Thank you for organizing the evening and I look forward to the FREE PARENT SUPPORT group on Thursday.

Posted by concerned parent 3, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 26, 2009 at 9:19 am

another cp

I also think that there needs to be a serious look into what the students may have had in common, in and outside of Gunn. I hope it's not taken as a bad thing.