Resources For Students
Hey, we get it. You’ve got a million questions. Well, we’ve got quite a few answers, but we’re not here to lecture. We’re also here to listen. And if you need someone to talk to, we’ll put you in touch with the right person. No BS. So, send us your questions and check out the rest of this page. Hopefully you’ll find some answers.
Peer Support Programming in the School
First things first: you’re right.
When you feel like you’re the only one who experiences something or feels a certain way, it’s true. Because you’re unique and no one experiences the world quite like you do, through your eyes and in your situation. And when you feel that way, it becomes hard to imagine that you can trust anyone to understand what you’re going through, how hard it is and that anyone could possibly help you.
Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter whether someone else has the exact same experience, or just something like it. Most of us go through challenges, social, emotional, physical and most of us have felt a version of what you’re feeling. Which means we understand better than you might imagine.
Most importantly, though, what we need in that moment more than anything else is support. To know that we don’t have to face this alone. To know that someone has our back. And who better than someone who is your age, knows what it’s like and will listen. And for a moment, make you feel a little less alone and little more like, with some help, you could be ok. At the end of the day, one thing is certain:
You’re not alone.
P.S. By the same token, you could be that person. Someone who has someone else’s back, who will listen when no one else does, who offers support. Because together, we can face almost anything.
Types of Prevention
Now, there are two types of prevention that we’re going to explore. We’ll look at what these types of prevention are and how they fit within our programs.
Primary Prevention
Primary Prevention is directed at those among your peers who are at risk to start using alcohol or drugs, but haven’t yet. “At risk” means that a young person is experiencing situations that are known to increase the likelihood they will start using.
Those situations can include physical or sexual abuse at home, or being around parents or relatives who are using, or a peer group with a high incidence of substance abuse. There are other potential factors, and they can often be subtle and hard to notice from outside.
Our programs aim to increase understanding of risks and of the potential impact of substance abuse on one’s life and development, both among those at risk as well as among their friends and peers.
For someone at risk, it is often difficult or impossible to grasp their situation. Their best first chance to get support are often their friends and the adults they interact with in school.
Secondary Prevention
Secondary and relapse prevention is focused on recognizing and helping those who either are in the initial stages of substance use, prior to becoming addicted, or even those who are already in some form of recovery.
LSIS does not offer treatment. Our mission and commitment is prevention. But prevention is effective and necessary at various stages of the progression of substance abuse. Of course, our first goal is to help young people avoid using. But we can also help those who have started to use and are on a path to regular use.
When your body and brain are still developing (and they do until around the age of 25), the impact and damage from substance use are particularly devastating and, in many cases, permanent.
At the same time, the developing adolescent brain is chemically predisposed to not have any notion or understanding of those consequences and their life-changing impact. Couple that with the risk factors noted above, and you’ve got a perfect storm.
By educating you, your peers, your teachers and the other adults in your life, we give everyone a fighting chance.
Ask a Prevention Influencer