DRUG SUSPENSIONS NOW COME WITH COUNSELLING

Now Students Who Are Suspended From School For Drug Use Have Somewhere To Go.

Alouette Addictions has partnered with School District 42 to provide
day treatment to those youths.

Counsellors have been working to develop the program all summer long,
said executive director Ron Lawrance.

Students will participate in the day treatment program for the entire
three days of their suspension and from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

"There will be a self-assessment component to the program, a wellness
component and some educational components as well as a therapeutic
component," he said.

Some funding to accommodate the youths was furnished by the school
board, while Alouette Addictions came up with the remainder by being
"creative," Lawrance said, with the money they already have.

"The program is being funded as a result of reworking our contract
and getting creative with the money we have."

The program, called T2 which stands for Think Together, will be free
to participants, and, he said, will likely give drug and alcohol
counsellors a better idea of what school children are up against.

There were 116 drug and alcohol related suspensions during the
2005-2006 school year, Lawrance said, and he doesn't expect those
numbers to dip right away as a result of the new program.

"I would expect that those numbers would rise at the beginning," he said.

"There are kids in school that are managing on the fringes," he said.

Lawrance added that he suspects some teachers hesitate to bring
forward the minor incidences they notice because there are no
services for the youth to access once suspended.

"They (the teachers) might be able to intervene sooner. I think in
the long run, the more serious cases won't get to that point."

School-based drug and alcohol prevention workers will also be on the
lookout and spotting children that could benefit from the new youth
program, Lawrance said. There are currently two such counsellors
keeping tabs on the district's six high schools.

Eventually, Lawrance said, he hopes the program becomes part of the
"suspension package." Currently, students who are suspended due to
drug or alcohol use require an assessment prior to heading back. This
program, he said, fulfills that requirement.

But it has to be voluntary, he explains, and the parents must consent
to the treatment.

"We're not going to bring (the students) in kicking and screaming.
Their parents have to be aware of it.

"We're offering this as an option."