For more than 15 years, Lancaster General Health has worked to prevent substance abuse among Lancaster youth through the Botvin LifeSkills Training Program, an evidence-based curriculum that targets students in grades three through eight. LG Health’s efforts touch more than 5,000 students in Lancaster County each year, reaching a total of more than 85,000 students since 2002. High-school and parent programs also are available.
“Effective prevention programs are based in social and emotional learning principles which address risk factors for drug abuse and increase protective factors,” said Mary LeVasseur, manager of Community Health & Wellness. “The Botvin LifeSkills program provides clear and consistent messaging to students throughout the years, helping them develop the skills they need to make healthy life decisions.”
Funded by LG Health, the comprehensive program addresses the most important factors leading adolescents to use one or more drugs through a combination of health information, general life skills and drug resistance skills. “Health educators teach the program to students and model lessons for the teachers,” said Sue Lackmann, Health Educator. “In the second year, we team-teach with the teachers, and by the third year, the teachers are able to carry out the program on their own.”
LeVasseur said that this process builds capacity and sustainability for the program. It also enables expansion of the program to multiple districts. She added that LG Health still provides student workbooks, teacher manuals and trainings for schools that offer the program independently of LG Health. “We try to make it as easy as possible for schools to implement,” she said.
Nationally, research shows that schools that implement the program with consistency report a decrease in physical aggression, verbal aggression, fighting and delinquency among students. The program also can effectively cut tobacco use by up to 87 percent, drug use by up to 75 percent, and alcohol use by up to 60 percent.
“Each individual and each situation are unique,” LeVasseur said. This program provides students with the tools and critical thinking skills to handle real-life situations that are unique to them.”
For more information on the program, please contact Mary LeVasseur at 717-544-3269 or melevass@lghealth.org.