EDUCATORS LEARN LIONS-QUEST DRUG ABUSE PROGRAM

EVERETT -- Josh Cohen and other educators sat cross-legged on the floor in
the middle of a room Tuesday at the downtown Westminster Presbyterian Church.

"You can teach it without wagging your finger," Cohen said of the
Lions-Quest substance abuse prevention and life skills program.

Cohen was one of more than 30 educators from around this state and Montana
who met this week for a two-day seminar on how to teach the program.

Educators use the Lions-Quest materials such as handouts and lesson plans
for role-playing and other activities to help children learn how to make
good life decisions, said John Wojahn, a member of the Everett Central
Lions Club.

The Lions-Quest program has been in use for more than 10 years and is
taught in 30 countries. It is just now catching on locally, he said, adding
that schools in Granite Falls are using the curriculum.

"I'd love to see every school in Snohomish and King counties do it," Wojahn
said. "Our kids are going to be our leaders. If we can keep them off drugs,
keep them off the streets, I think that's really the objective."

The program was created several years ago through a partnership between
Lions Clubs International and Quest International, a nonprofit educational
organization. It emphasizes the involvement and support of family, schools
and the community.

Lions-Quest focuses on various subjects such as drug and alcohol choices,
conflict resolution and how to give back to the community.

Those topics are of interest to Cohen, who is an assistant teacher in the
McGraw unit at Seattle Children's Home. Cohen teaches academics and life
skills at the unit set up for 9- to 18-year-olds, many of whom are there on
court orders.

"I've found it's not very effective to wag your finger," Cohen said. "This
program gives me a lot of different ideas. I like it. It's very adaptable."

The Lions-Quest program goes beyond other substance abuse prevention
programs such as DARE, Wojahn said. The Lions-Quest program also fills
voids left by some phased-out DARE programs, he added.

"It's a far more reaching curriculum than the DARE program," said Gary
Wall, superintendent of the Granite Falls School District. The district
adopted the Lions-Quest program after losing its own DARE program.

This is the second year teachers at Granite Falls schools have used the
program. So far, more than 20 Granite Falls teachers, counselors and
principals have taken the training, said Wall, who is also a Granite Falls
Lions Club member.

The local District Lions, which includes 47 Lions Clubs in three counties,
is planning another Lions-Quest training this summer.

Lions Clubs pay for some educators to participate in the training. Cost for
the training is about $220 per person, and the same training elsewhere may
cost more than $400 per person, Wojahn said.

Everett Central Lions Club volunteers and free space at the church are what
helped keep costs down for this training, Wojahn said.

Unlike some other prevention programs, teachers can use this one with a
variety of age groups.

Materials are geared toward various age levels from kindergartners to high
school seniors, said trainer Merrily McCabe, a former educator and
counselor who has taught the Lions-Quest training program for nine years.

Many lessons in the curriculum includes active involvement, McCabe said.

"Real learning takes place whenever emotion is involved," she added.

Tony Yuchasz will take what he learned this week to the Alderwood Boys &
Girls Club.

"It will be useful at the club in two ways," said Yuchasz, a program
director at the club. Boys & Girls Club leaders can use lesson plans in the
before- and after-school program and to teach Junior Staff, a leadership
program for middle school-age children, he said.

"Our goal is to give (children) the resiliency to stay away from drugs and
alcohol and to lead productive lives," McCabe said. "We're teaching them
skills to become positive citizens."

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455 or send e-mail to
reardon@heraldnet.com .