One Prevention Alliance is grateful for the partnership developed with the school districts in Skamania County. Although the grant funds support youth, families, and the communities of the Stevenson-Carson School District, with some creativity, OPA has been able to offer limited programs to the Skamania School District and the Mill-A School District. Youth and their families in those communities are always welcome to attend our events.
The 2020-2021 school year, with its many pandemic challenges, did not look like a normal year for the school district or for One Prevention Alliance. These three programs have been in our schools in the last few years, although not all of them are currently implemented due to covid restrictions.
Second Step
Second Step is taught K-5 in the Stevenson-Carson School District. This program is most often taught by classroom teachers and supported by the school counselor. Second Step is a social-emotional learning program that teaches various social and emotional skills such as emotion recognition and management, empathy, problem solving, bullying prevention, and goal-setting.
SPORT
SPORT is a brief, multiple behavior program integrating substance abuse prevention and fitness promotion to help elementary aged and adolescents minimize and avoid substance use while increasing physical activity and other health-promoting habits. It is based on the Behavior-Image Model, which asserts that social and self-images are key motivators for the development of healthy behavior. The intervention promotes the benefits of an active lifestyle with positive images of youth as active and fit, and emphasizes that substance use is counterproductive in achieving positive image and behavior goals. SPORT involves a short, self-administered health behavior screen survey measuring physical activity and sport behaviors and norms, healthy nutrition, sleep, and alcohol use. Participants then receive a tailored consultation, along with a key facts handout. A simple fitness prescription goal plan is completed by participants to motivate positive behavior and image change.
LifeSkills Training (LST)
LST is a school-based program that aims to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use and violence by targeting the major social and psychological factors that promote the initiation of substance use and other risky behaviors. LST is based on both the social influence and competence enhancement models of prevention. Consistent with this theoretical framework, LST addresses multiple risk and protective factors and teaches personal and social skills that build resilience and help youth navigate developmental tasks, including the skills necessary to understand and resist pro-drug influences. LST is designed to provide information relevant to the important life transitions that adolescents and young teens face, using culturally sensitive and developmentally and age-appropriate language and content. Facilitated discussion, structured small group activities, and role-playing scenarios are used to stimulate participation and promote the acquisition of skills. One Prevention Alliance offers this to 6-8th grade at SCSD, Skamania, and Mill-A (21-22 school year).