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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Mentors keep kids away from drugs
#7617340 - 11/10/07 12:32 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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http://www.fedwaymirror.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=91&cat=23&id=1101062&more=0
Folks in Federal Way are banding together to prevent drug abuse in children who are so young, they may have never even heard of substances like LSD, heroin or cocaine.
The Wonderwood Prevention Coalition aims to prevent future drug use in elementary and middle school children in the area surrounding Illahee Middle School. Parents and PTA members at Enterprise, Rainier View, Lakeland, Sherwood Forest and Panther Lake elementary schools, as well as Illahee Middle School, are involved in the project.
Enterprise has already begun an effort with a cross-age peer mentoring program called Friends Incorporated. Nine volunteers from Illahee come to Enterprise every Thursday during the last hour of the school day and meet with their “buddies,” the students who they mentor. Each volunteer works with three younger students.
“Everybody that needs one gets a friend and gets a positive role model and somebody they can talk to. I think that’s what it’s about,” said Hanna Moore, an Illahee seventh-grader who volunteers with the program.
The older students, in sixth and seventh grades, are Enterprise alumni who volunteer for their role as mentors. Elementary students who are identified as “at risk” are chosen for the program by teachers and counselors.
“Sometimes kids deliver the same message to other kids that adults would deliver, but sometimes the kids listen to other kids more than they would adults,” said Enterprise school counselor Stacy Traylor.
Students at risk of drug abuse can be identified by a number of factors before they’ve ever used drugs, said Nicole Moore, Wonderwood project coordinator and certified drug and alcohol counselor.
Some risk factors include stress, poverty, behavioral problems, low test scores and a lack of involvement with the school community, Moore said.
“Just alleviating the pressures that they are feeling is preventative,” she said.
Mentors provide a positive role model for the children, listen to them, read with them and play math games. They are taught to be good listeners and to talk to the children without judgement, Moore said.
“They’re trying to keep them connected and feeling good about being in school and making healthy choices,” she said. “Prevention is so broad, you can really do a lot of different things.”
Moore also helps at-risk youth and their families by connecting them with community resources.
Blake Hansen, a sixth-grader who mentors younger students at Enterprise, said it’s fun to work with his buddies. Two of his buddies need math help and one of his buddies is in the special education program.
“I go to his class and help him talk to other kids,” Hansen said of his special-ed protege. “He doesn’t have any friends, so I try to be a friend for him.”
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shroom_ninja
Stranger



Registered: 11/03/07
Posts: 150
Last seen: 8 years, 10 months
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Re: Mentors keep kids away from drugs [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7617445 - 11/10/07 01:38 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Most drugs are not that big of a problem. Drug abuse is a problem. Unfortunately for lazy parents, this means raising responsible, mature children, who are able to make safe decisions on their own.
Instead, lazy parents choose to discipline or force their children into "responsible" (but really "conditioned") behaviors, instead of instilling in them the ability to reach those conclusions on their own, which inevitably leads to unrestricted drug/alcohol abuse later in life, or similar problems with addiction and/or addictive personalities.
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Konyap


Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Mentors keep kids away from drugs [Re: shroom_ninja]
#7617460 - 11/10/07 01:45 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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by seventh grade some people i kno wouldve already used a couple of these drugs...
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DAVID_ALLAN_CEO
Resident Gambler


Registered: 10/29/06
Posts: 398
Loc: Grand Casino Tunica
Last seen: 3 years, 10 months
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Re: Mentors keep kids away from drugs [Re: Konyap]
#7617518 - 11/10/07 02:33 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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hey at least they're trying to make an effort to better the lives of future adults thats more than i can say for my day to day efforts... addressing the real family mental health and predisposition issues as well as educating younger the pitfalls of addiction can only serve to make a more enlightened society towards the issues of addiction.. and a lot of abuse can be prevented if the real issues are detected before one reaches for a bottle or a drug instead of a solution
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