Life skills Training is the highest rated, recommended and researched substance abuse prevention program today. Rather than just teaching information about a drug this program teaches students to develop skills so they are far less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors. Life Skills is designed for elementary and junior high school students and has been evaluated and proven to be effective with white middle-class and ethnic-minority students in rural, suburban, and inner-city populations. Life Skills Training consists of three major components: Drug Resistance Skills, Personal Self-Management Skills, and General Social Skills. Drug Resistance Skills enable young people to recognize and challenge misconceptions about tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use. By increasing perception of person risk and life skills training students learn alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse information and resistance skills to deal with peer and media pressure through coaching and practice. Personal Self-Management Skills teach students how to examine their self-image and its effects on behavior. Students learn to set goals, make decisions, analyze problems and consider the consequences of each solution before making a decision. They also learn to look at challenges in a positive light. General Social Skills teach students to communicate effectively and avoid misunderstandings. Students also learn to initiate conversations and handle social requests. Life Skills Training teaches students that they have a choice other then being aggressive or passive. To learn more about Life Skills Training click on www.lifeskillstraining.com.
Positive Action
This approach incorporates evidence
based strategies
such as increasing perception of personal risk,
life skills training, promoting pro-social norms and connecting to community prevention efforts. Positive Action is a comprehensive program for
students 3-18 years old. It is targeted for all groups of individuals,
regardless of age, gender, race, urban, rural, suburban, etc.
Its methodology integrates daily classroom curriculum with a school
based prevention program. The Positive Action approach teaches
physical, intellectual, social, and emotional positive actions.
Students focus on the importance of their thoughts, actions, and
feelings. Some of the goals of this program is to improve students’
academic performance, instill students motivation to learn, assist
the school, improve students’ behavior, develop students
character, develop well rounded students, develop thinking skills,
and promote good mental health in students. This program has been
proven effective for increasing protective factors such as social
skills, positive personal characteristics, knowledge regarding
risks associated with substance use, information on positive health
behaviors, negative attitude toward drug-related topics, positive
relationships with adults, positive bonding to social institutions,
and commitment to pro-social values. To learn more about Positive
Action click on the link www.positiveaction.net.
Project Alert
This program is designed for fifth through eighth grade students.
The goals of Project ALERT are to prevent adolescents from beginning
to use drugs, and to prevent those who have already experimented
from becoming regular users. Also, to prevent or curb risk factors
demonstrated to predict drug use. The curriculum achieves these
goals by motivating adolescents not to use drugs and by teaching
them skills to translate that motivation into effective resistance.
The lessons that focus on correcting
misperceptions of norms, beliefs about drugs, and intentions help motivate
adolescents not to use. Other evidence based strategies incorporated
in Project Alert are life skills training and
increasing of personal risk. These strategies
are used to teach students to recognize that most students don’t
use drugs, understand the consequences of using drugs, and resist
internal and social pressures. To learn more about Project Alert
click on www.projectalert.com.
Project Northland
Project Northland is rated an exemplary program by the U.S. Department
of Education. The focus is on prevention of alcohol, tobacco,
and other drug use for students in grades six through eight. The
project’s goals are to delay the age when young people begin
drinking, reduce alcohol among young people who have already tried
it and limit the number of problems. Project Northland was effective
in changing peer influence to use alcohol, normative expectations
about how many young people drink, and parent-child communication
about the consequences of alcohol use and the reasons for not
using alcohol. By incorporating evidence
based strategies
such as correcting
misperceptions of norms, increasing perception of personal risk, life skills training
and promoting pro-social norms Project Northland
teaches youth decision making skills, assists in strengthening
parenting skills, teaches youth interpersonal skills and provides
information on substance abuse. To learn more about Project Northland
click on the link www.hazelden.org.
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