This easy-to-read guide for families of teens covers
crucial issues kids face today. The book emphasizes the connection
between healthy lifestyles and family involvement, and the success of
teens in school and in life. Healthy Teens offers common sense advice
for parents and professionals working with teens.
Alice R. McCarthy, Ph.D., is a nationally known
civic leader, educator, and writer. She is a Cornell University
graduate in early childhood development and education, and she
completed her doctorate at Wayne State University (WSU) in 1986. Her
work at WSU concerned human growth over the life span and curriculum
development. Since her degree work, Dr. McCarthy has devoted her
energies to family education, research, and curriculum writing related
to health and the family.
Currently, Dr. McCarthy is involved in several health education
projects related to children and families. She is writing a curriculum
for families, Parents as Partners: Keeping Kids Healthy, based
on nationally distributed health curricula. She is also preparing a
national curriculum in health for students in grades kindergarten
through six, entitled, Health 'n Me! Her book, Healthy
Teens: Success in High School and Beyond, was published in
September, 1996, with the support of the school health programs of the
State of Michigan's Departments of Community Health, Education, State
Police, and the Family Independence Agency. Healthy Teens was
immediately sold out in its first printing. A second edition is in
print. Dr. McCarthy has conducted several research projects, all of
which have been devoted to the health education needs of families.
Since 1992, Dr. McCarthy's company, Bridge Communications, Inc., has
been publishing three different four-color, four-page health
newsletters for families. Healthy Beginnings is for families with
children in pre-kindergarten through grade 3; Healthy Growing is for
grades 4-5; and Healthy Choices is for grades 6-8. These newsletters
are published twice each school year, and are purchased mainly by
intermediate districts. The Healthy newsletters, which reach between
550,000 and 600,000 families each issue, have received many national
and state awards.
In 1994 and 1995, Dr. McCarthy published Healthy Preschoolers: At
School-At Home to help parents teach their preschoolers about health
and safety issues. This book for families was developed with the
guidance of professionals at the Michigan Department of Education, the
Michigan Department of Public Health, and Children's Hospital of
Michigan.
Dr. McCarthy has been the executive editor of a number of manuals and
magazines for families related to child development, family issues,
and health. In 1991 and 1992, Dr. McCarthy was the executive editor of
Good For You!, a 48-page, four-color health information magazine
developed with a federal grant designed to expand family involvement
in the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education. In
1993, her company, Bridge Communications, Inc., published a four-color
magazine entitled, Healthy Families and Healthy Children, for Growing
Healthy(r), a national health education program taught in Oakland
County, Michigan. These two magazines reached nearly one million
parents in Michigan and across the United States.
Between 1987 and 1994, Dr. McCarthy prepared a column -"The Advisory
Board-for the Parent Talk" page of The Detroit Free Press. She
currently prepares "All About Families", a column for the Suburban
Communications Corporation that features professionals who answer
family questions.
Dr. McCarthy began her advocacy for health education over twenty years
ago by initiating a health education curriculum in the school system
her five children attended. Her civic roles are extensive. She is the
past chairperson of the Board of Regents of Lake Superior State
University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and past Chairperson of the
Board of Directors of The Merrill-Palmer Institute, Wayne State
University. She has been honored nationally and state-wide with many
awards and commendations.
