Counselor Johnson

Today, my high school best friend is on my mind and I wanted to share this post that I shared on facebook from when he committed suicide just over two months ago.   I’m going to talk about something that may make a lot of you uncomfortable. Feel free to stop reading, if this is not something you are ready to hear a different opinion on. But, if we keep “not talking about” it is going to keep happening more and more and more. And, I am slowly realizing that talking about is something we need to do more often. I’m talking about suicide and the numbers are on the rise. I’ve looked at the statistics, but I also know it from personal experience. Chances are you know someone that has committed suicide or attempted it, but I guarantee there are people in your life (maybe even you) that have seriously considered it. I am far from an expert on the matter, but I do have lots of experience both personally and professionally in this area. Sadly, “suicide” is a word that comes out of my mouth at

Imagine that you just graduated from college, you have student loan debt, but you are just offered your "dream job". When you sign your contract, you are informed (not your choice) that they will be taking 13-14% of every paycheck and putting it away in a retirement fund for you. On top of that, they'll even match your contributions and when you retire after 27 years, they will pay you a full salary! Yay! But, in exchange for this retirement system, you will not be able to draw social security and if your spouse dies, you can't get their social security benefits either. You're already getting paid less than other positions with your level of education, but this is your "dream job"! It's not all about the money.  You love your job, but it costs you a lot of money to do it. You buy a lot of supplies and tools that you need to do your job. Plus, you end up buying clothes, shoes, and food for your clients, because they don't have things you need.

In my last post, I promised to come back and share some tips for online safety and your teenagers.  Let's face it.  Technology is everywhere.  You can't keep your teenagers away from it.  And, technology in itself is not a bad thing.  But, just like anything else, it can be misused or overused.   They can stay in touch with family and friends, access resources for school work, take classes online, and even start a business online.  At the same time, it has created a whole new breeding ground for bullies and predators.  Today's teenagers have been using technology since they were toddlers.  It's a different world than what we grew up in.  It is important to teach our young people to use the internet responsibly and in a balanced way.  So, let's look at ways we can teach this critical skill.  1.  Balance is important.  On average, tweens and teens spend 6-9 hours using technology (social media, TV, video games, internet).  That's a lot of screen time and doesn&