Pubdate: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 Source: North Thompson Star/Journal (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The North Thompson Star/Journal Contact: http://www.starjournal.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1231 Author: Jill Hayward Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education) BAD ATTENDS DRUG PROOFING KIDS SEMINAR Learning how to recognize substance abuse within your kids was a big part of the agenda at the March How to Drug Proof Your Kids facilitator training held at the Kamloops Indian Band in Kamloops. "This all started a year ago when we formed Barriere Against Drugs (B.A.D.)," said B.A.D. core member Jean Davison, "We planned to take this course and applied for a grant to pay the cost." B.A.D. was successful in obtaining the grant and eight members attended the training on Mar. 3 and 4. Attending were Jean Davison, Michelle Young, Shelley Piva, Rick Jacques, Mary Ann Canaday, Angie Czynski, Caroline Duval and Elizabeth Weller. "The whole course was awesome," said Davison, "We covered numerous items including how parents can tell if their kids are using. How they act. Do you really know your child? How to find out if they are alcoholics. How parents can learn to understand drug usage." Davison said emphasis was placed on Prevention Tools for Parents; what to do, how to recognize substance abuse, how to get support, and how to intervene. "We covered 11 threats to recovery which include guilt, loneliness, underachievement, and lack of self-esteem," said Davison, "It was an extremely good course with a great social worker/teacher there who gave us lots of stats and was a great 'book of knowledge' for us all." Barriere resident and course participant Angie Czynski said, "I found it interesting, there were some statistics about drug use that I was unaware of and there was a lot of information presented with the course." Czynski said she felt the course was a great tool in learning how to teach kids about drugs before they are faced with the challenges of saying no to drugs. "We learned that kids up to Grade 4 are the best ones to target to prevent drug use," said Czynski, " This is before they are exposed to drugs. Stats show it is too late to target children age 10 and up, they have already been exposed." She stated that she found the course's greatest strengths were in preventative education for parents of younger kids especially those in the primary Grades. Davison says the group returned to Barriere with a large supply of informative booklets and brochures that are available to anyone at the North Thompson Volunteer and Information Centre. "There is great information about the different kinds of drugs and how to recognize them. We encourage parents to stop by and pick them up or they can call me or Lisa at the Volunteer Centre." said Davison. In all approximately 16 people from around the region attended the two day training. "Now we look forward to being able to share what we learned and what we brought back with the parents and families within our community," said Davison. Jean Davison can be reached at 672-9216 or call Lisa Quiding at the Volunteer Centre at 672-0033. Barriere Against Drugs is a community organization formed in 2005 to address community concerns regarding substance abuse. The group offers educational materials and videos, operates a volunteer community patrol, supplies support information for parents, families and individuals with substance abuse problems, and works with the local Nar-Anon. - --- MAP posted-by: Tom