The positive reception of “The Boy in the Boat — Life Lessons Learned at Camp,” a feature article written by Stephen and Ben Seifer for the May/June edition of Camping Magazine, has resulted in a new media outreach effort by the American Camp Association titled, “The Kid and the Camp Director” and a “re-purposing” of the original article into a shorter piece directed to parents. It focuses on the positive outcomes of the summer camp experience for children and young adults. 
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Welcome!
Welcome to the online home of Stephen Wallace! As a school psychologist, adolescent counselor, SADD Chairman and CEO, researcher, camp director, and college professor, Stephen has gained broad experience with teens and unique insights into their development, attitudes, and behavior. This site was created to share what he has learned! It is also intended to be a resource that empowers teens and parents to communicate openly about the critical issues young people face, collaborate on the choices they make, and celebrate the positive steps they take on the way to becoming happy, healthy, and productive men and women.
Stephen has been named to the advisory board for Campus Safety & Student Development and Impaired Driving Update, publications of the Civic Research Institute, an independent publisher of reference and practice materials for professionals in the social sciences and law. Read more
PricelessParenting.com, an online training program that teaches parents proven techniques for effectively responding to misbehavior while guiding children to develop important character traits like integrity, honesty and compassion, has recommended Stephen’s book, Reality Gap, as a resource for parents. On its blog, they say, “the book provides wonderful advice for parents in handling and discussing these critical topics with their teens.” Read more
New Column: What If … ? - Combating Complacency is Key to Keeping Kids Safe During the Summer Season
Another senseless prom night tragedy left a Massachusetts woman dead and an eighteen-year-old high school senior behind bars, perhaps for a very long time. According to the police report, the male student admitted to drinking ten beers between the 4:30 a.m. conclusion of the school-sponsored event and the 7:30 a.m. car crash.
Sadly, we’ve heard it all before. Read more
As camp directors across the country gear up for staff training seminars and the start of the 2009 season, Stephen has published a cover story in the Spring 2009 edition of CampLine, a publication of the American Camp Association that focuses on risk management and legal issues related to camp operations and administration. Under the Influence: Respect, Responsibility, and the Conduct of Camp Counselors tackles the difficult and problematic issue of alcohol use by underage staff members.
On Tuesday, May 19th, Stephen appeared as a guest on the Greater Boston program hosted by Emily Rooney on WGBH. The segment focused on prom season and the dangers associated with underage drinking and impaired driving. For more information about the show or to view last night’s program, click here.
Stephen spoke to students at Bernards High School in Bernardsville, New Jersey on Thursday, May 28th. His presentation included information about SADD and how young people can best safeguard each other and be contributing members of their school and broader community. Among his topics were underage drinking, other drug use, bullying, violence, and suicide. For more information about the SADD Speaker Series or to book a presentation at your school, community center, or place of work, visit www.saddspeaker.org.
Stephen’s new book, Reality Gap has been selected as a “Best Parenting Book” for parents of teens and tweens by RadicalParenting.com. For more information, click here.
Stephen appears in an episode of E! True Hollywood Story Investigates (Prom Nightmares) this week at 2:00 pm on E! You can see the listings here.
On Wednesday, May 6th, Stephen spoke to area students and parents at a Youth Health Connection event held in the Performing Arts Center at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts. The event was sponsored by the Youth Health Connection program of South Shore Hospital. Buttonwood Books and Toys of Cohasset was on hand to sell copies of Stephen’s new book, Reality Gap. Read more
The May/June edition of Camping Magazine features a new article written by Stephen and one of his campers, Ben Seifer, “The Boy in the Boat - Life Lessons Learned at Camp.” The article, which appears in this special staff training edition, explores the positive outcomes of the summer camp experience in terms of overall youth development and personal growth and is targeted toward camp counselors. Read more
Stephen addresses the issue of youth mentoring in a new A+ Advice for Parents syndicated column by Leanna Landsmann. Among other things, he points to the positive outcomes of youth mentoring, speaks to the concern parents may have about the safety of mentoring relationships, and offers concrete steps on how to become a mentor. Download the PDF: A+ Advice.
The spring ‘09 edition of Everything Summer, The Premier Camp/Teen/Family Resource lists Stephen’s book, Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex - What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling in its “Jill’s Picks” recommendation section. For more information about Everything Summer, click here.
TheAntiDrug.com has teamed up with teen expert, Stephen Wallace, Chairman of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and author of the book, Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs and Sex — What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling. Check out the parent questions and Stephen’s responses … here.
On April 25th, Stephen’s comments about the use of breathalyzers at school proms appeared in Illinois’ The Daily Journal. Reporter Hayley Graham wrote: An increasing number of schools are using breathalyzers at dances, said Stephen Wallace, chairman and CEO of Students Against Destructive Decisions. And many times the students are accepting.
“Many kids say it gives them an out … to say, ‘I’m not going to drink and do drugs,’ when they might be feeling a little pressure from other kids,” said Wallace, who recently wrote the book “Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs and Sex — What parents don’t know and teens aren’t telling.” Read more
PricelessParenting.com, an online training program that teaches parents proven techniques for effectively responding to misbehavior while guiding children to develop important character traits like integrity, honesty and compassion, has recommended Stephen’s book, Reality Gap, as a resource for parents. On its blog, they say, “the book provides wonderful advice for parents in handling and discussing these critical topics with their teens.” Read more
Stephen’s new book, Reality Gap has been selected as a “Best Parenting Book” for parents of teens and tweens by RadicalParenting.com. For more information, click here.
On Wednesday, May 6th, Stephen spoke to area students and parents at a Youth Health Connection event held in the Performing Arts Center at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts. The event was sponsored by the Youth Health Connection program of South Shore Hospital. Buttonwood Books and Toys of Cohasset was on hand to sell copies of Stephen’s new book, Reality Gap. Read more
The spring ‘09 edition of Everything Summer, The Premier Camp/Teen/Family Resource lists Stephen’s book, Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex - What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling in its “Jill’s Picks” recommendation section. For more information about Everything Summer, click here.
Stephen commented recently on the value of the summer camp experience for tweens and teens for a special supplement of the Washington Post: “Camp is tremendously helpful for kids,” says Stephen Wallace, a director of Cape Cod Sea Camps, school psychologist, and author of Reality Gap: Alcohol Drugs, and Sex - What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling. He says going to camp - especially overnight camp- helps kids accomplish three primary tasks of adolescence: getting an identity, gaining independence, and making and keeping friends.” Read more from Stephen about the outcomes of the summer camp experience in his Camping Magazine feature article, Rites of Passage - Camp Pays Off in Youth Development, Happiness, Health, and Safety.
The positive reception of “The Boy in the Boat — Life Lessons Learned at Camp,” a feature article written by Stephen and Ben Seifer for the May/June edition of Camping Magazine, has resulted in a new media outreach effort by the American Camp Association titled, “The Kid and the Camp Director” and a “re-purposing” of the original article into a shorter piece directed to parents. It focuses on the positive outcomes of the summer camp experience for children and young adults. Read more
Stephen has been named to the advisory board for Campus Safety & Student Development and Impaired Driving Update, publications of the Civic Research Institute, an independent publisher of reference and practice materials for professionals in the social sciences and law. Read more
PricelessParenting.com, an online training program that teaches parents proven techniques for effectively responding to misbehavior while guiding children to develop important character traits like integrity, honesty and compassion, has recommended Stephen’s book, Reality Gap, as a resource for parents. On its blog, they say, “the book provides wonderful advice for parents in handling and discussing these critical topics with their teens.” Read more
New Column: What If … ? - Combating Complacency is Key to Keeping Kids Safe During the Summer Season
Another senseless prom night tragedy left a Massachusetts woman dead and an eighteen-year-old high school senior behind bars, perhaps for a very long time. According to the police report, the male student admitted to drinking ten beers between the 4:30 a.m. conclusion of the school-sponsored event and the 7:30 a.m. car crash.
Sadly, we’ve heard it all before. Read more
As camp directors across the country gear up for staff training seminars and the start of the 2009 season, Stephen has published a cover story in the Spring 2009 edition of CampLine, a publication of the American Camp Association that focuses on risk management and legal issues related to camp operations and administration. Under the Influence: Respect, Responsibility, and the Conduct of Camp Counselors tackles the difficult and problematic issue of alcohol use by underage staff members.
Stephen’s discusses the recent passing of Proposition 2 in Massachusetts and what it means for teens across the country.
Listen now: Clear_and_Present_Danger.mp3
Stephen discusses the research behind Reality Gap in a Q&A podcast, also available on the Psychjourney web site. Read more
Reality Gap paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities.
This new book gives high school students the inside scoop on figuring out who they are and where they want to go by offering teens the kind of comprehensive, down-to-earth advice they need and want.
Child and Youth Development features eighteen articles that have been carefully selected from past editions of Camping Magazine, including 
The Parents League Review is an annual literary journal with articles on parenting and education.
This is an important time in teenagers’ lives — when they will develop driving habits that can be good and bad. Parents need to take an active role in helping teens develop safe driving behaviors because teenagers are involved in more car accidents than any other age group.
