BOOKLET COUNSELS YOUNG MINDS

While volunteering as an addiction counselor at the Serbu Youth Campus,
Gordie Albi realized that the kids there had no clue how drugs were
affecting their still-developing gray matter.

So with help from a couple of Serbu counselors, Albi set about writing an
illustrated booklet, in prose that kids could understand but didn't
condescend, explaining the inner workings of their brains and how drugs
affect their thinking.

"It speaks directly to kids in language they understand," she said. "This
book isn't going to cure anybody. All it can do is plant the seeds. They
have a right to know about their brain."

Now the 48-page booklet, titled "Between Your Ears: A Guide to Living," is
gaining national attention among addiction counselors, academics and educators.

A South Eugene High School teacher ordered 50 copies for her freshman
health class. A university professor in Colorado bought 30 for an
introduction to pharmacology class. And the National Association of
Addiction Professionals is negotiating a deal with Albi to market the
booklet to its members.

Perhaps most important, the kids at the Serbu lockup, whose criminal
misdeeds are often entangled in illegal drugs, like it.

"I actually wanted to read it because I could understand it - it wasn't
like a science book," said Chelsea, a sweet-faced 17-year-old with blonde
pigtails. She's been at Serbu for a month for a probation violation and
possession of drugs, and is waiting for a spot to open up in a drug
treatment program.

"It taught me a lot about my brain, like how there's neurotransmitters that
transmit chemicals in the brain to other parts of your body," she said.

Paul, a 16-year-old who gets out of Serbu after a month-long stint for
probation violation, liked the book's straight-forward approach to the
brain and drugs.

"It gives you the facts and leaves it up to you to make a choice," he said.

After Albi started volunteering at Serbu, she wanted to find a way to
educate and support kids who were struggling with addiction. Collaborating
with Serbu staff counselors Becky Watts and Greg Burns, they developed a
16-session course on alcohol and drugs and their effect on the adolescent
brain. The only thing the course was lacking was a text. She couldn't find
one, so she wrote one.

"Kids don't know about their brains," she said. "How can they be expected
to control their brains if they don't know about it."

It took her about three months to write it with help from Watts and Burns.
She made a point not to be judgmental, but rather to present facts about
how adolescent drug use can "re-wire" the brain forever.

"I tell them why they act the way they do," she said. "They like it because
it's in their language. It's challenging. It's not insulting them. Most of
the stuff in prevention is so pat and prettied up and that is kind of
insulting to kids."

The Siletz Indian Tribe provided a $4,000 grant to print 2,000 copies. Albi
put up some of her own money to have an extra 1,500 copies printed. The
cover features an extreme close-up photograph of the brain, lobes, veins
and all.

"Kids like ooey gooey," she said. "They like being repulsed."

While the booklet was put into use at Serbu, Albi had bigger ambitions for
the publication. She took copies to a conference for addiction
professionals last spring and soon word began to spread.

Anne Hatcher, director of the Center for Addiction Studies at Metropolitan
State College of Denver, bought five copies of the booklet at the
conference and then 25 more after getting a positive response from her
students.

Hatcher said she liked the illustrations of the brain and neurotransmitters
and plans to use it in her pharmacology classes.

"Most of our society is visual when they pick up information," she said.
"You give them information in words and they have no idea what you're
talking about. You give them a picture and they begin to get it."

Albi also made cold calls to local teachers. She dropped by South Eugene
High School last year and gave a copy to Ann Hettick, who teaches a
freshman health class.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh, this is exactly what I've been looking for,' "
Hettick said. "Right off the bat, I knew it was good stuff."

Albi's explanation of how neurotransmitters work and how drugs affect the
brain "really makes the connection" for students, she said.

Students also like the way the book is written, she said.

"It's written off-the-cuff, but all the information was there, regardless
of the prose," she said. "It wasn't dry. It was real. It's not judgmental.
It doesn't preach."

Addiction counselor is the latest hat worn by Albi, who in 1993 founded
Amigos de los Sobrevivientes - Friends of the Survivors - a residential
treatment center for torture survivors from Central and South America. She
had to quit the center after suffering a small stroke, but she wasn't ready
to stop helping people. So she became an addiction counselor about six
years ago and started her own counseling practice, Interventions Northwest.

She started volunteering at Serbu because she figured it was a place where
she might be able to make a difference.

"I seem to relate well to kids," she said. "I have a weird sense of humor
and they seem to like that."