All tagged teens

Dear Evan Hansen

Every day I meet an Evan Hansen or a Connor Murphy or an Alana Beck. Or a Zoe Murphy. Every day I meet one of these kids in our office, whether they are teens or still toddlers.

For the Evan or Connor who is already a teen, I take a deep breath. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Evan and Connor are characters in the musical (and now novel), Dear Evan Hansen. Both of whom are struggling with feeling alone, with feeling anxiety, with feeling/being depressed.

Featured Fridays: Casa Youth Shelter and Robyne's Nest

It's been cold here in Southern California.  Freezing, in fact.  Or...I guess what the Bookworm girls and I call "California Freezing" or "California Cold" because we are scientists and we know that it's not technically freezing here. 

I will tell you that I've never been truly cold at night.  Unless by choice via camping.   I know that there are many people and homeless families sprouting up all around this area.  And there are teens too. 

Now that I work in a private practice I don't see these teens.  But they're out there, running away from something, or taking care of themselves for some time now.  And I'm always torn about how I can help.

Defunding Planned Parenthood

I've been reading a lot on social media and online about what happens when we defund Planned Parenthood, and what the repercussions of the new healthcare act will have on underserved populations.  I won't pretend to be a journalist and I won't pretend that I understand all the minutiae of what is going on.  But let me tell you what defunding Planned Parenthood means to me as a pediatrician. 

In my lifetime, I've had to tell two separate twelve-year-old girls that they were pregnant.  Two.  One when I was a resident one when I was an attending. 

For both, I don't know the outcome.