isawitonponce.com

Sunday, Jan. 22 2012 7:00 am.

It’s on, Tahoe.

The third in a series of winter storms to sweep through the Sierra is on track for arrival later today, and it looks like a beauty.

This system is tapping into enough moisture to drop more than an inch of water-content precipitation above 5000 feet and perhaps two inches at the Sierra Crest by noon Monday. With colder temperatures and decent snow-to-water ratios, that should translate into around a foot of snow at the Lake and up to two feet above 7000 feet.

Temperatures will not be super cold, but they will be colder than with Friday’s storm, fortunately. Look for lows in the low 20s tonight and highs in the mid-20s at 7000 feet Monday. Snow levels will be around 4,500 feet to 5,000 feet on the western slope throughout the event.

Snow is forecast to taper to snow showers on Monday as this system moves east.

Two more waves out of the Northwest on Tuesday and Wednesday are on track to miss Tahoe as they skirt by to our north, so the rest of the week looks pretty dry.

But after this storm, it should at least look, and feel, like winter for a while.

TahoeLoco.com

The young adult drug program techniques need to be structured differently from older adults for a number of reasons. These are young women and men between eighteen and twenty-five years of age. The most fundamental difference is that human brains continue to develop until the age of thirty.

Permanent Damage

Alcohol or any other form of addiction before the brain is fully developed can cause permanent damage. This is a huge problem. In 2000, more than 100,000 men and women between 18 and 25 were in rehabilitation. The actual number of people in this group who had addiction problems but who lacked the resources to get a place in a program was likely much, much higher.

The Three Priorities

Psychologists describe three key tasks that an individual completes during their formative years. These are to find a mate, to become independent from their parents and to identify their life’s work. Being distracted by an addiction or other mental health problem interferes with this natural progression.

12 Steps

Many rehabilitation programs employ the now-familiar Twelve-Step program. This was established originally to help alcoholics overcome their addiction and its associated problems. First, they admit that they are powerless over their addictions. Next, they acknowledge that there is a higher power in whom they can find strength to overcome their problems. Finally, they are encouraged to make a list of those who have been damaged by their actions and to find them and make amends.

Gender

Young women have very different needs from those of men and their rehabilitation must be structured accordingly. Their treatment needs to be planned with their age and gender in mind. Women are more easily addicted. Alcohol or drug dependence can force them into harmful relationships with people who manipulate them for their own gain.Men, too, have needs that are specific to their gender. These are the years when they establish their own identity. They require understanding as they metamorphose from adolescence to becoming an adult.

The Atheist and Rehab

The 12 Step paradigm that forms the basis of so many intensive outpatient services is based on the belief in a higher power. What provision is made for atheists who do not acknowledge the existence of such an entity or those who prefer not to apportion blame for their difficulties? Finally, recovering from addiction is fraught with enough difficulties and they do not need the added burden of feeling like a failure for not subscribing to certain beliefs. This population responds well to methods that have a foundation in science. Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Behavior Therapy and Motivation Enhancement Therapy have all been demonstrated to be effective in this particular population.