Pubdate: Tue, 14 Nov 2006
Source: Black Hills Pioneer, The (SD)
Copyright: The Black Hills Pioneer, Newspapers 2006
Contact: 
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=29038&BRD=1300&PAGF1&dept_id=156921&rf
Website: http://www.bhpioneer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3570
Author: Wendy Pitlick, Black Hills Pioneer

YOUTHWISE HELPS STUDENTS STAY DRUG-FREE

SPEARFISH - As officials from Lawrence County school districts become 
increasingly aware that drug and alcohol use among youth is more of a 
community-wide problem, rather than just a school problem, schools 
are taking a more active approach in prevention and taking an active 
role in helping children make healthy choices.

That's where YouthWise comes in. Based in Spearfish, this 
organization funded by the South Dakota Division of Drug and Alcohol, 
has contracted with Spearfish and Lead-Deadwood Schools to provide 
programming and curriculum designed to help students make healthier 
choices and stay drug free. Currently the organization is working to 
support existing school programs such as peer helpers and the youth 
advisory council, as well as provide additional programming such as 
speakers and after-school activities to help teach kids about healthy 
lifestyles.

"Students consistently on a national level report that very little 
drug and alcohol activity happens at school," said program director 
Angie King. "It is in the hours after school and days when there 
isn't school when there is drugs and alcohol activity."

So, in a more holistic approach to prevention services, King said 
YouthWise works to arm students with the social and life skills they 
need to stay healthy in all aspects of life, using a research and 
evidence-based curriculum. While this was formerly a job that only 
the school system addressed through federal funding, King said the 
federal government has since redirected those funds to be used by 
community organizations to work with the schools to address the problem.

And it is a problem, King said. According to a 2003 survey conducted 
by the Minnesota Department of Health, which focused specifically on 
Spearfish, youth reported using drugs and alcohol 28 times more than 
the national average. That survey, along with last year's Realtors 
Against Meth presentations which featured Mary Haydal, a mother who 
lost her child to methamphetamine use, helped YouthWise get its 
funding to work with Lawrence County schools.

"We tried for four years to get the funding," King said. "I think the 
success that RAM had in hosting the Mary Haydal series demonstrated 
to (government officials) that this was a community that was 
holistically, with a lot of synergy and commitment and collaboration, 
willing to promote healthy choices for our community. So I really 
have a lot of gratitude to RAM and their leadership in assisting with 
bringing the money here."

According to King, YouthWise is only the third accredited 
organization in the state to receive this funding in what is a 
brand-new structure that brings communities and schools together. 
Other organizations that are doing similar work in the schools 
include Prairie View Prevention, the parent organization of the 
Methamphetamine Awareness Prevention Program in Sioux Falls and 
LifeWise, which provides similar services in Rapid City.

While YouthWise is currently working on organizing several classroom 
programs about healthy choices, bringing speakers in to talk to 
students, and organizing after school programs at the middle school 
level to help children with idle time, the program, in its infancy, 
is primarily working to identify the issues that need to be 
addressed. The survey uses a nationally recognized model practiced by 
the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration, and is completely 
voluntary for students. So far, King said, students have been very 
receptive to it. The results of the survey, King said, should be 
available later this month.

Overall, King said the primary goal for YouthWise and for both school 
districts is to send the same message to students. "We are trying to 
promote that most people make healthy choices," King said. "Even if 
(students) are in a social situation where they're the minority in 
saying 'no' in some venue, they'll have the awareness to have the 
confidence that they're not alone and they are in the majority in 
making healthy choices. That's the intention around it."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine