PARTNERSHIP BRINGS DRUG HELP TO LOCAL STUDENTS

Students In Maple Ridge Have Alouette Addictions On Their Side.

For the past 10 years, the local organization has partnered with the
local school district to reach out and help teens at risk in the community.

"We have a school-based prevention employee," said Alouette
Addictions executive director Ron Lawrance.

One full-time and one part-time prevention worker spend hours working
on educating students against the culture of drugs and alcohol, and
providing counselling to those who have found their way into it.

"What they're doing in the school right now is prevention work,"
Lawrance said, though for cases that need more urgent intervention,
referrals will be made to the organization's youth and family counsellor.

"Basically, the program has two parts," said Robb McGirr, who works
part time for Alouette Addictions. "One is education and workshops
for mainstream students, and the other part is basically what I'll
refer to as early intervention."

When a red flag goes up due to a student's behaviour, early
intervention may be required, as the student could be finding himself
or herself headed down a road that's hard to turn back on.

"Sometimes it might be mediation between parents and teens who are in
conflict," McGirr said.

he added that it's most important to attend to the students who may
have begun using and have ventured beyond recreational use to using
drugs or alcohol as a coping tool.

"The window to intervene when you have a serious drug problem is very
small," he said.

Education is the primary focus; a lack of resources has kept the
program rather bare bones. However, education is key in preventing
drug or alcohol problems to begin with.

There are workshops, presentations to students and more, and there
are also educational portions for teachers and parents.

Though resources are tight, the program has been expanding.

"For the longest time, our presence was mainly at Maple Ridge
secondary, and to a lesser extent at Pitt Meadows secondary," McGirr said.

Westview became part of the program just weeks ago, and the local
school district and Alouette Addictions are working towards adding a
fourth school, which could be either Garibaldi or Samuel Robertson
Technical, whichever needs the support most, McGirr said.

A meeting was held recently with administrators of the high schools.

"We're also trying to make contact with the elementary schools,
especially Grade 7," McGirr said.

They hope to have a presence in all the high schools by September.

"The more presence you have in the school, the more at-risk kids will
come to the surface," McGirr said. He added it's a critical support
because school is a funnel point for youth.

Part of the approach is assessment of students deemed to be at risk
of developing or increasing drug use behaviour. Alouette Addictions
has released a book by McGirr that includes a section on how parents
can assess their children, including a checklist.

Billed as a guide for parents, it is available from Alouette
Addictions and includes pages of information on a variety of different drugs.