PEER TEACHERS - DAYTOP RESIDENTS SPEAK TO STISSING MOUNTAIN
STUDENTS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF DRUG ABUSE

Teens often believe that adults are boring and preachy, especially
when addressing how drug use can quickly turn into the bigger problem
of drug or alcohol abuse.

When Steven DeLuca first started teaching the health classes at
Stissing Mountain High School 17 years ago, he understood the
difficulties an adult would face when trying to address a class full
of teenagers on the dangers of drug use.

He also understood, however, the importance that teens place on what
their peers say. Using that knowledge, he began to look around
Dutchess County for a program that would offer a unique teaching
opportunity.

Every year, a counselor from Daytop, a residential drug-treatment
facility for teens with homes in Millbrook and Rhinebeck, brings some
of the teens and young adults from the program to DeLuca's eighth and
11th grade health classes to give their first-hand accounts of how
drug abuse affected their lives.

"It's fine for me to provide information on decisions, but I believe
there can be additional benefits from their peers, who have
experienced some of the same situations that the students here have,"
DeLuca said, noting, "They may relate better to someone who's their
own age."

While Daytop provides services for people between the ages of 13 and
20, the speakers for this year ranged from 15 to 20.

They discussed their experiences with abusive relationships, being
banned from prom, or running away from home.

"I'm always really eager to come here," said Roland Miley, the
counselor from Daytop who has been accompanying the residents to
Stissing Mountain High School for the past four years.

The speakers addressed how even casual drug use can easily turn into
abuse, which takes a complete hold over the abuser's life.

Every action is about getting their chosen substance, and in doing so,
an addict becomes a keeper of secrets.

Trust between parents and their child, and even between friends, is
often destroyed, Stissing students were told.

"They spend a lot of time keeping secrets before they come to the
program," he said, "but they got comfortable sharing, so a lot of what
you'll hear today are stories that they've told at Daytop after they
worked very hard."

According to DeLuca and Miley, as well as the Daytop residents
themselves, they look forward to the trip as much, if not more, than
the Stissing Mountain students.

After each Daytop participant told his or her personal story to the
class, they informally talked about the freedoms that normal high
school students may take for granted each day.

They discussed what they saw on a tour of the high school, and
marveled at the amenities and freedoms that the students have, such as
the climbing wall in the gym, "We know what it's like to have it, take
it for granted, and then it's gone," said Brian, a 20-year-old student
at Daytop.

"It actually helps the residents, because, in the program, we teach
them 'You can't keep what you've learned unless you give it away,'"
Miley said.

Aside from the benefits that his own students reap from hearing
first-hand accounts of what drug abuse can do to lives as young and
full of potential as their own, DeLuca said he understands the
benefits for the Daytop residents.

"For them, it can feel really good when you feel like you're helping
someone, even in the smallest way," he said.