PROGRAMS ON DISPLAY FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSERS

The balloons Wanda August uses in her Strengthening Families Program
sessions in Donaldsonville helps families, some of whom are dealing with
substance abuse, communicate better.

The balloon game, in which parents and children join hands to keep balloons
afloat, encourages contact, discussion and handling one problem at a time,
she said.

About 130 people representing alcohol and drug prevention and treatment
programs throughout Louisiana studied the Donaldsonville model, a
Louisville, Ky., model and a Dallas model Monday at the O'Brien House 2002
Crossroads Conference at the Radisson Hotel in Baton Rouge.

The conference was co-sponsored by the state Department of Health and
Hospitals' Office for Addictive Disorders and the Capital Area Human
Services District.

"We're focusing on prevention programs for kids so it's approaching the
whole family unit," said Katherine Martin, executive director of O'Brien
House, a half-way house which aids recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

The Donaldsonville program started a year ago, said Stacey Moreau, clinical
manager of Ascension Counseling and Substance Abuse Center.

People are referred through the center, family services programs and the
courts.

The model programs will offer more ideas for treating not just adults
facing alcohol and drug addiction, but their children as well, said Michael
Duffy, acting assistant secretary of the state Office for Addictive Disorders.

"I want to have a systematic way of treating the whole family," Duffy said.
"I'm exposing our inpatient managers, administrators and treatment people
statewide to these models.

"This is to begin the dialogue. We're moving away from feel-good prevention
to research, evidence-based programs proven to work."

A program in Dallas, the Rainbow Days Inc. Kids' Connection, works with
children of substance abusers or children who reside with parents in group
homes, shelters and other housing situations.

It has helped to reduce drug use among children, increase their perception
of the risks associated with drug use and improve social skills and
communication skills.

"We've got to do something with the children of the families you are
working with," said Janet Mitchell, director of training services for the
Dallas program, which started in 1982.

A third prevention program based in Louisville, Ky., Creating Lasting
Family Connections, also helps youth make informed decisions on alcohol,
tobacco, drugs and relationships, in addition to developing personal
responsibility skills.

A parent component trains adults to effectively influence youth on alcohol
and drug issues by providing information on intervention and treatment.

Some Louisiana cities, such as Alexandria and Pineville, are using the
models to help start their own programs in January, said David Durbin,
manager for the Region 6 Office of Addictive Disorders.

"It's a parenting class for parents and therapy groups for kids to teach
children coping skills and to help them avoid drugs," Durbin said. "Even if
the substance abuse parent doesn't improve, we'll help the kids learn how
to cope."

Problems with substance and alcohol abuse also are affecting pregnant
women, said Mike Steinkamp, assistant regional administrator of the Capital
Area Human Services District Center for Addictive Disorders.

Steinkamp said about 1,800 women visited LSU's Earl K. Long Medical
Center's prenatal clinic in 2000 and of those, 800 women delivered babies
in 2001 who had been exposed to alcohol or drugs.

Steinkamp said he wants to reduce that number, something the Prenatal High
Risk Clinic Outreach program at Earl K. Long is trying to accomplish.

Social worker Valerie Harper said the clinic screens expectant mothers,
educating them about the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol.

"Some (women) don't consider that wine coolers and daiquiris are alcoholic
beverages that could hurt their children," she said.