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Forum Focuses on Teen Problems : Youths Get Lowdown on Raising Self-Image

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Times Staff Writer

About 120 teen-agers gathered at Reseda High School on Saturday for the first in a series of six citywide forums designed to steer youths away from drugs and other problems by boosting their self-esteem.

Counselors and therapists told the audience that the key to avoiding drugs, gangs, unwanted pregnancies and other teen-age problems was feeling good about themselves.

The forum was sponsored by the Los Angeles Youth Advisory Council and Mayor Tom Bradley’s Office of Youth Development.

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The root of many teen-age dilemmas is a lack of self-esteem, said Joseph N. Feinstein, a therapist and host of “Teen Talk,” a Saturday morning television show on KHJ. He said problems occur when teen-agers think to themselves, “I don’t feel very much at all. I’m a cipher. I’m a big, fat zero. As long as I don’t count, I will create all the problems that are bad for my body.”

Another family therapist, David Fox, offered several suggestions for building esteem. First, students must realize that their most important relationship is with themselves. Teen-agers must explore what their priorities are and then honor them rather than worrying about how to please other people, he said. Also, he added, students should not chastise themselves for past behavior that they later don’t like.

“To beat yourself up doesn’t make sense,” Fox said.

Feinstein told the students that 1.4 million U.S. teen-agers will become pregnant this year and 5,000 others will commit suicide. But when he asked if those kind of figures made an impact, the teen-agers who spoke said they didn’t.

“You don’t really pay much attention to it unless it’s you or someone you know,” said one teen-age girl.

“The number is big; you might think it has an impact on us, but it doesn’t,” added a teen-age boy.

Also appearing was Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein, who fielded several questions. Korenstein represents the west San Fernando Valley.

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The forum ended with a presentation on substance abuse by young actors from an organization called Young Artists United.

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