The success of a prevention-infused curriculum is enhanced through collaboration with other ATOD prevention initiatives in the school and the community.
The Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (1991) offers the following program models for providing early intervention:
"Student Assistance Programs: Based on the employee assistance model, these programs use professional counselors in the schools. Although there are many adaptations, the usual program components are a referral process; an assessment and continual monitoring; in-house services such as family counseling, support groups, or group counseling; and, if necessary, outside referrals to youth-serving agencies.
Peer Counseling Programs: Peer counseling programs tap into the natural networks of helpers. These helpers are selected, trained, and encouraged to reach out to and assist their peers. They listen, solve problems, give information about community resources, and make referrals. Once involved, these young people often develop prevention awareness and education programs, including no-use chapters of Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and other groups. The team of peer counselors must be diverse and demonstrate maturity, empathy, and inner discipline.
Neighborhood-Based Early Intervention: A demonstration project based in San Francisco, California, called the Youth Environment Study, counsels youth in selected neighborhoods by developing trusting relationships and encouraging young people to share their problems. The program was based on the belief that youth can be helped only if the cultural meanings of their drug use are understood. The project found that these meanings vary greatly among neighborhoods. Activities and services emerge as specific problems are identified and can include job-hunting assistance, negotiating with bureaucracies, or arranging to visit a friend in jail.
Other early intervention programs include education on the hazards of drinking, curriculums for incarcerated young people, programs for teens and parents on family communication and management issues, community and neighborhood-based alternative activities, and family therapy." (p. 21)
The Community: The community--whether defined as neighborhood, city, or county--is the place where ordinary people make their voices heard and where multiple forces converge. They speak to one another and communicate with local institutional systems. Our challenge at this level is to encourage and support these voices as they address community youth issues and to help them deliver their message to the larger environment.
What are some typical environmental issues that communities are motivated to address?
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