OUR PLACE PROVIDES ALCOHOL, DRUG AWARENESS

It started out as a get-together. People with drug or alcohol
problems would meet at Mt. St. Francis to play softball and
basketball in a drug-free environment.

Then, they turned to education when they saw their children facing
the same problems they were trying to overcome. Five years later in
1986, the project became Our Place Drug and Alcohol Education
Services Inc. -- a nonprofit organization, making their focus families.

"We truly understand how drug and alcohol abuse affects the family
from the youngest child on up," said MeriBeth Adams-Wolf, executive
director of Our Place. "So we address the issue as a family issue,
not one where we address it as a vacuum where you pull the
individual out and talk only about their choices and the risks they face.

For 25 years, Our Place has provided prevention and intervention
programs for youth, adults and families affected by drug and alcohol
abuse. The first program to develop through Our Place is the Youth,
Individual and Family Drug and Alcohol Education Program. It's an
early intervention program that Adams-Wolf said is the heart of Our Place.

"The purpose of it is to not take the focus off the substance abuse,
but to kind of broaden the view of it," said Danny Ferguson, program
coordinator.

Ferguson said that many times alcohol and drug abuse are caused by
not being able to cope with anger, pain and stress -- so the program
looks at all these areas to help the individual live a better lifestyle.

They start educating children as early as second grade with the
Beginning Addictions Basic Education Studies Program, or BABES.

"If we can get to them sooner with some information, we could maybe
be able to prevent more of a problem and not wait until they are
adolescents or teenagers and already struggling with some of the
issues," Adams-Wolf said.

The BABES program was the second program to develop from Our Place.
Through the use of seven puppets and other visuals, this six week
program teaches students at participating schools such things as how
to deal with emotions, peer pressure and the consequences and myths
of drinking.

"They get really enthralled by these puppets," said Amy Adams, BABES
program coordinator. "It's amazing to me sometimes. They really ask
questions."

They also provide an after-school prevention program geared toward
10- to 14 year-olds at New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School
Corp. called Afternoons Rock in Indiana. Another program called The
Journey focuses on 12- to 18 year-olds who have become chemically dependent.

The nonprofit also works to prevent teen pregnancy with its Project
Respect program.

Some programs at Our Place are partially funded by the Metro United
Way. The Metro United Way funding also allows the organization to
charge fees for the Individual and Family Education Program on a
sliding scale based on a client's income.

"That's why we struggle from time to time because we want to provide
the service and we can't always get payment for it," Adams-Wolf
said. "And we have expenses, but thank goodness for Metro United
Way. Truly without that funding these programs would not exist."