Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Coast Reporter Contact: http://www.coastreporter.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580 WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW? Valuing Our Youth Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on youth, drugs and alcohol on the Sunshine Coast. Last week we asked the question: what are we as a community doing now? As a result of the youth alcohol and drug community response strategy, the Sunshine Coast Youth Awareness committee appointed a sub-committee to work towards the implementation of the strategy. This includes a three pronged approach: coordination, prevention and response. The Action Committee has started coordination. The active members of this committee are the coordinators of the Roberts Creek, Gibsons and Sechelt community schools, a Sunshine Coast Regional District parks and recreation coordinator, a community school board member, the coordinator of the Sunshine Coast Community Services to youth and a counsellor from the Sunshine Coast Alternative School. One of the tasks of the committee is to seek sustainable funding sources to provide effective, ongoing services for our youth. Most of the services mentioned in this series have one-time-only or time-limited funding. Prevention: There are very few prevention programs for youth on the Sunshine Coast. Those that do exist continually face the reality that their funding could be gone tomorrow. The Roberts Creek Friday Nights Alive Youth Drop-In (funded by Roberts Creek Community School and the SCRD) is one of the successful programs. This program is a supervised youth drop-in for 13 to 18 year olds. The program offers a positive, social, non-judgmental environment where teens can express themselves and be comfortable, a place where they can drop in for organized activities, watch a movie and visit with their peers. The program is designed to offer youth a safe, free, positive alternative to street activities with opportunities for education and learning new skills. The Pender Harbour Community School also offers youth drop-ins. Two programs, Youth Jam on Friday night and Nite Sports on Tuesday night, attract up to 30 youth aged 12 to 28. These programs have trained facilitators using a restitution-mentoring type model for substance abuse issues. The SCRD parks and recreation department also provides a range of positive, preventative arts, culture and sports activity for youth. Sunshine Coast RCMP will offer the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in five elementary schools this year. Response: Sunshine Coast Community Services Society, with partial funding from the Ministry of Children and Family Development, offers one-to-one counselling and group education to support teens transitioning to independent living. Two counsellors responding to referrals, primarily from the Ministry of Children and Families, offer a 24-hour a week crisis service. Recently, one-time-only funding was secured for an outreach worker to work nine hours per week to facilitate high-risk teens in reconnecting to their communities, schools and families. These programs have long waiting lists. The need is far greater than the support available, and the funding is never secure. Coast Garibaldi Mental Health Services also offer some addictions counselling and support for youth. As one of the youth involved in the report says, "We need to be more visible in our caring." Next week, we ask the questions: What's missing in the support of our youth with alcohol and drug problems? What can we as a community do? - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFLorida)