Young people are faced with decisions about tobacco, alcohol and drug use and social issues that threaten to overwhelm even the most self-assured. Life Skills focuses on teaching general social skills, personal self-management strategies, and drug refusal skills. This comprehensive program provides adolescents and young teens with the confidence and skills necessary to successfully handle challenging situations.

A 2008 Pima County Arizona Youth Survey of 1,515 8th graders indicates that 29% have used alcohol, 16% have smoked cigarettes, and 11% have used marijuana. Adolescents may use drugs for a lot of different reasons and often those reasons are related. Some of the reasons cited are: anxiety, self-esteem, trying to fit in, school use, media influence, availability and family use/abuse.

Substance-abuse prevention leads to greater academic success. Research indicates that many physical changes occur in the brain and body as a result of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. These physical changes can make learning and concentration more difficult and can negatively affect school performance.

Voices for Education provides Life Skills curriculum training for teachers, counselors and prevention specialists.  These trainings provide opportunities to learn:

• Developmental tasks of middle school students and their relationship to high-risk behavior.
• Methods for creating a safe & positive learning environment.
• Essential skills, knowledge and attitudes young people need to be resilient.
• Interactive teaching techniques
• Program fidelity
• Guidelines for responding to challenging classroom questions.

This initiative is part of a national effort funded by the Public Education Network to support positive youth development and public education.

Parent Life Skills

The parent component of Life Skills contains material and exercises that will help you strengthen communication with your child and make it easier to discuss issues related to alcohol, tobacco and other forms of drug abuse.  These workshops will cover activities that build family support and provide skills to help your children develop personal self-management, sound decision-making, and achieve personal goals.

Workshop sessions that include:

• Being a good role model—you are more important than MTV.
• Taking a clear stand on drugs—sending a crystal clear message.
• Use of appropriate and consistent discipline.
• How to say what you mean.
• How to help your kids through some tough years.
• Parental monitoring.
  
  

2009 LifeSkills Schedule:  Lifeskills Booster workshop, Saturday, January 24th.                                                                   Call 520-324-0881 or email   info@voicesforeducation.org to register.                                                                         CEUs and stipends will be provided to all middle school teachers, counselors and staff.  You must have received Level 1 training to participate.   

Maricopa Level 1 training, June 12, 8:30--3:30 in downtown Phoenix.  CEUs and stipends will be provided to all middle school teachers, counselors and staff.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Understanding Youth Workshops with Eric Toshalis and Michael Nakkula 

Workshop:  September 25:  all day workshop for Middle school teams (Due to current budget cuts, Voices for Education will reimburse your school district for up to 5 substitutes.

Teacher Book group: beginning September 2nd Tuesdays, 4:30.  Attendees are also invited to a small group workshop with Eric Toshalis and Michael Nakkula on Saturday, September 26th at Roskruge Middle School

Community Reception and Lecture:  All Lifeskills participants  are invited to meet Eric and Mike and hear about their research on Thursday, September 24th from 5:30-8:00.

Just for Parents:

Parent  LifeSkills Workshop:  Eastside, Tuesdays from 10:00-12:00 at the Ward 2 office.  Feel free to bring your kids.

Parent Book Group:  Join Heather Reed in a facilitated conversation about adolescents and the research that Toshalis and Nakkula have written about in their book Understanding Youth.  Call 324-0881.

Voices for Education Prevention Summit: Steering Youth in the
Right Direction - September 2009

Small Grant Recipients 

On September 9, 2008, Voices for Education held the 2008 Voices for Education Prevention Summit: Steering Youth in the Right Direction.  This event is the youth component of the Voices for Education Life Skills Project and was entirely youth planned and led.  The Summit brought together 200 middle school students throughout Tucson to participate in a day of interactive activities and dialogue around factors teens need to be resilient and resist the pressure of drugs and alcohol.

The summit was followed by small grant opportunities for middle schools to apply for funds to address a school condition around prevention & resiliency (peer support & learning, bullying, anger management, conflict resolution, social skills) that would allow youth & adults to work as partners.

 The following schools were awarded small grants:

Chaparral Middle School ~ Chaparral Prevention Team Leadership

Retreat ($700):

Students will work with a variety of staff and also high school student liaisons to identify areas of need for prevention activities and create commercials and mini-documentaries on prevention topics to strengthen conflict-resolution at Chaparral MS. The grant supports leadership training for students from diverse groups to work together to plan activities and assess their effectiveness that will then be implemented at the school.

 Apollo Middle School ~ A Day Without Anger ($1,000):

Students will promote peace & harmony at their school by holding an assembly for all students and adults to address what causes anger and how to develop coping strategies before it becomes destructive.  The students involved with this project will research anger management strategies to create literature and a web page.  A banner with signed pledges to seek help to deal with anger will be displayed at Apollo Middle School.

Tucson Country Day ~ Peer Mentors: Uniting Champion Leaders

($1,000):

This project will unite the school community to help students succeed academically & socially.  This grant supports a training program that will pair up older students with younger students as mentors, tutors and mediators.  Younger students will be mentored with homework help and social skills (e.g. making friends & building confidence) with the goal of establishing campus peer connections to handle difficult situations.  Adults on campus will work with the mentors on the training & evaluation components.

Sahuarita Middle School ~ Reach for Excellence Within ($1,000):

This project will address bullying by planning an anti-bullying day and on-going activities that provide students with tools to treat others with dignity and respect. A peer mediation program will be set up to work with students to prevent conflicts and bullying and promote compassion and communication rather than violence.   Youth and adults will work together to create peer mediation training and facilitated small group discussions to get a sense of changes taking place on campus as a result of Reach for Excellence Within.

 For more information, contact Lisa Winton, Life Skills Project Director at 324-0881 or lwinton@voicesforeducation.org.

The Middle School Skills for Life Initiative is supported by a grant from Public Education Network (PEN); PEN's mission is to build public demand and mobilize resources for quality pubic education for all children, especially poor and disadvantaged, through a national constituency of local education funds and individuals.

Life Skills is generously funded by Public Education Network.