Thank you for supporting Kennett High Schools Student Assistance Program [06/09/2007]

By Michael Edwards

As the Student Assistance Counselor for Kennett High School, and outpatient clinician for Northern Human Services, I would like to thank students, parents, teachers and staff for helping make this a successful 2006-2007 school year. This grant position, funded by the Governors Commission on Drug and Alcohol Prevention, Intervention and Treatment, allows me to step out of the office as an outpatient clinician at Northern Human Services and to be at Kennett two days a week, to meet with any high school student that may seek assistance in alcohol, tobacco, drug prevention, and provide brief solution focused counseling and stress management skills to help more effectively cope with stressful life circumstances. With the help of many at Kennett High, including Vice Principal Steve Woodcock and Ninth grade Housemaster Amy Burnap, we were able to complete many goals and establish a template of sorts that will continue at the new Kennett High School. Our goal is to help reduce student risk factors, including bullying, alcohol, drug and tobacco use; factors which may interfere with a students academic and social skills. In addition, we have increased awareness of the program to students, teachers and parents:With the help of Carrie Costello of the English Dept, I was able to speak to virtually every Kennett High student about alcohol and drug prevention, bullying and stress management, so that more students are aware of the Student Assistance Program.With the help of Kim Proulx of Health Education, I was able to teach aspects of the Challenge Course curriculum, an evidence based curriculum on alcohol and drug prevention, stages of addiction and stess management skills.My thanks to all teachers and staff who are the eyes and ears and provided referals, especially after my presentation to the General faculty meeting last fall.My thanks to Mark Johnson atWMWV- 93.5FM, for his help in monthly Drivetime interviews on our local radio station, Tom Eastman of the Mt. Ear and Lloyd Jones of the Conway Daily Sun for their help with articles to help inform parents and members of our community.This position has reinforced the importance of community involvement and outreach in bringing about individual change, and that we must strive to not lose focus of members of our community who may feel they have been left behind or forgotten. I would like to thank Betsy Gemmecke of Valley Outreach, Northern Carroll Countys invaluable resource for parents, for her passion and commitment to increasing awareness and providing forums and workshops in helping parents raise healthy children in our community.In a recent article in Psychological Science, researchers argue that educational interventions designed to change a childs knowledge, beliefs or attitudes about high risk behavior, including alcohol and drug use, and bullying, may not be as effective as concurrently changing the environments which lead to high risk behavior; drug and alcohol use among peer groups and within families, homes without supervision, and too much unstructured time. Current research also indicates that parental involvement, parent training and modeling can also be an effective means to reducing alcohol, drug and tobacco use by improving communication skills between parent(s) and student(s) and thereby, helping students avoid environments and peer groups that may lead to high risk behavior. If you would like to learn more about this topic, the student assistance program and/or Valley Outreach, log on to www.forparentssake.com. Again, thank you! Have a great summer! Michael Edwards, M.A. is an Outpatient Clinician for Northern Human Services and is a Student Assistance Counselor at Kennett High School.