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The Regional Education Services Agency (RESA VIII) recently trained teachers in the Botvin LifeSkills Training program. Educators in attendance hailed from Pendleton, Grant, Hardy, Hampshire, Mineral, Berkeley and Jefferson counties.
Teacher feedback was very positive. Comments included: "Using magazine advertisements is a creative way to make students aware of marketing techniques used by companies"; "The LifeSkills curriculum provides a lot of skills needed by adolescents to enhance their ability to make wise decisions"; and "Actually letting the students interact in behavioral rehearsals is a good hands-on way to practice."
Jane Lynch, Executive Director of RESA VIII, stated "This program is implemented in the grades where students are most influenced with peer pressure. The LifeSkills program is the only curriculum currently being implemented across the entire state in the field of prevention
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Altus School District Ready For LST
The Jackson County Tobacco Education Committee (JCTEC) in Altus, Oklahoma, had donated the Botvin LifeSkills Training Curriculum to the Altus Intermediate School and all five elementary schools.
"We are happy to provide this curriculum to Altus Public Schools, in hopes of reducing tobacco use in youth", stated JCTEC Chair, Wendell Browne. "Our committee goal is to educate youth about the insidious nature of the tobacco industry and arm them with the skills to say NO to tobacco use.
Students in grades 2-6 will use the curriculum. "We are really excited to start the Botvin LifeSkills Training program, said Dr. Nancy Evans, director of curriculum for Altus Schools. "This prevention program is tested and proven effective at reducing unhealthy behaviors amoung our youth.
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County Receives Grant; Implements LST
Loudoun County has received a three-year foundation grant to continue its tobacco prevention programs.
The $112,010 will be used to support one part-time instructor to provide tobacco prevention programming to at-risk elementary, middle and high school-age youths.
Prevention and intervention staff members will serve 150 at-risk youths ages 8 to 18 in grades 3 to 12.
They will use the LifeSkills Training program, which focuses on changing children's attitudes and norms about drug abuse.
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Catching it early; From reactive to proactive, Bowen Center goes to root of problem
In the bout with the methamphetamine epidemic, the Marshall County Bowen Center has stepped into the ring. The plan is to get there before the problem begins.
By the end of this month, all sixth- or seventh-graders in Marshall County will be taught LifeSkills Training (LST) classes. Implemented in 13 elementary, middle and junior high schools, students will receive four to eight LST sessions throughout the year during resource or study hall time.
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$1 spent on prevention saves $10, study says
Researchers Richard Spoth, Ph.D., and Max Guyll, Ph.D. detailed findings from the "Prevention's Cost Effectiveness: Illustrative Economic Benefits of General Population Interventions" and "Prevention of Substance-related Problems: Effectiveness of Family-focused Prevention" studies for a conference sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Health Organization.
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Funding Prevention Makes Economic Sense
According to researchers from Iowa State University, every dollar invested in substance-abuse prevention yields nearly $10 in savings
Researchers Richard Spoth, director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State, and colleague Max Guyll found that Botvin LifeSkills Training demonstrated significant cost benefits.
LST showed a $9.98 return on investment for every $1 spent in terms of preventing methamphetamine use.
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LST Making a Big Difference in Students' Lives
Demopolis Middle School hosted its first awards ceremony for its Botvin LifeSkills Training program on Thursday. Sixth-graders have been taking the LifeSkills course to help them make good decisions at a crucial point in their lives.
“LifeSkills is a curriculum that is designed to help students in Grade 6 improve self-esteem, confidence, image and instruct them on how to make good decisions,” said LifeSkills Training instructor Loretta Wilson. “It also increases their awareness about various forms of tobacco use and alcohol and drug use."
This is the first year that all sixth-graders took part in the program, which will soon be brought to John Essex School and the Linden City Schools system.
LifeSkills Training Helps Kids Make Right Decisions
Thanks to the Botvin LifeSkills Training program, which is currently taking place at all five Comal ISD middle schools in Texas, students are developing the necessary skills to resist the peer pressure to smoke, drink, and use drugs.
The program, purchased through a $6 million Keystone grant awarded to the Comal ISD, has students in grades six through eight meet with their LifeSkills Training teacher once a week. Sixth-grade students meet for 18 weeks, seventh graders 12 weeks, and eighth-graders for seven weeks during the school year.
“I have had more than one student come up and tell me how they used the decision-making skills they learned in the LifeSkills Training program to make a good choice,” said Church Hill Middle School LST Trainer Rosie Rodriguez. “That lets me know we’re getting through to them and as a teacher that always makes me feel good.”
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Sixth Graders Gain Insight Through LifeSkills Instruction
Sixth-graders at Dover Middle School have gained some insight on the effects of smoking and alcohol, and the knowledge is helping them think twice about how it relates to their own well-being.
A 12-week LifeSkills course taught by Valerie Wenger of the Tuscarawas County Health Department included units on self image, decision making, drugs and alcohol, communication, social skills, bullying and assertiveness. Wenger, of New Philadelphia, is a licensed teacher, tobacco treatment specialist and chemical dependency counseling assistant.
Youth Smoking Rates Plummet in Virginia with LST
The results of the Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation (VTSF) show the percentage of Virginia high schools students who smoke dropped to 15.5 percent, well below the national average.
VTSF funds the use of model prevention programs, such as Botvin LifeSkills Training. "The goal of the VTSF-funded LifeSkills Training program is to increase our youths' knowledge of the consequences of tobacco and substance use, while providing them with skills to resist peer pressure and other social factors," said Governor Tim Kaine.
Grantee Training Provides Critical LifeSkills
Lehman College and the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) successfully implemented BotvinLifeSkills Training in an effort to promote conflict resolution among children in the MMCC afterschool program. After training 30 bilingual individuals to teach the LST program, implementation began with two-hour sessions held once a week for four weeks at one of seven MMCC afterschool sites throughout the Bronx, reaching a total of 240 children.
The Botvin LifeSkills Training program, identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one that “works,” specifically helps participants increase self-esteem; develop healthy attitudes; improve their knowledge of essential life skills, including conflict resolution; and address general substance abuse prevention.
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