DRUG COUNSELOR PROGRAM SEEKS NEW FUNDING

Drug counselor Pamela Kammerer hears the same explanations over and over as
high school students talk with her about their drug and alcohol use. "I'm
not comfortable unless I'm high."

"I'm funnier when I'm drunk."

List of services . Catholic Social Services' Substance Abuse Solutions
program are held at Bishop Brossart, Covington Catholic, St. Henry
District, Pendleton County, Newport Independent, Newport Central Catholic,
Holy Cross and Holmes high schools . To discuss grants for the Substance
Abuse Solutions program, call Herk Iames, (859) 581-8974.

. Catholic Social Services also provides programs: to teach home ownership
skills for low-income families, about parenting, youth leadership, for
educational support and conflict resolution, for bolstering self esteem and
about poverty issues. Adoption services and substance abuse counseling also
are provided.

. Catholic Social Services launched its public appeal this month for the
organization's annual campaign with $80,000 already raised through private
and corporate donations.

. To donate, call Catholic Social Services at (859) 581-8974 or log on to
www.cssnky.org

"I never really had any friends until I started getting high."

She listens, shares information on medical and emotional effects drugs have
on the body and mind, and helps students figure out how to take control.

"My job is to help them, not to rat on them," Kammerer says.

She's one of five counselors who hold regular office hours in eight schools
as part of the Catholic Social Services' Substance Abuse Solutions program,
which has been operating in eight private and public schools in Northern
Kentucky for three years.

The program got $249,000 as a three-year start-up grant from the Health
Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. But that funding expires this year,
making the Substance Abuse Solutions program one of the main funding
projects for Catholic Social Services' annual campaign, which started this
month.

The goal of the drive is to raise $130,000 of the agency's $1.7 million
budget. Other agency funding comes from the United Way, the Diocese of
Covington, program fees and other donations.

"At the end of each year, we look at what is the most critical need, what
program needs the biggest boost," said Matt Hollenkamp, a spokesman for
Catholic Social Services. "This one is real clear. The (Substance Abuse
Solutions) program is effecting change. If the campaign is not successful
and we don't have a strong operating budget next year, we can't operate it
at the same level."

The seed money from the Health Foundation helped subsidize the schools'
portions of the cost of counselors. As that grant runs out, other sources
of money must be found. Schools are picking up more of the costs, and
funding from the annual campaign and additional grants Catholic Social
Services is pursuing will cover some of the costs.

The drug program in Northern Kentucky is the only one that places
counselors in the schools, Hollenkamp said.

Last year, the program's counselors worked with 224 students.

Records show a 25 percent increase for students in the program in five key
areas, said Herk Iames, substance abuse supervisor for Catholic Social
Services: daily living skills, relationships, depression, impulse addiction
psychosis and level of use.

School administrators say based on input from school staff and, most
importantly, from students themselves, they see the program making a
difference.

"Kids want to continue to see the counselor," Iames said.

Kammerer, who works with students at Holy Cross and St. Henry District high
schools, said students can be referred to the program by teachers or school
administrators or parents, or they can decide to seek counseling themselves.

"When they first come in, they don't know if you're going to set them up,
get them expelled," Kammerer said. "When they begin to trust, then they
will answer the questionnaires truthfully."

Much of her work aims at informing students about the effects of drugs and
alcohol, and about general life issues.

"We may find issues of anxiety, self esteem," she said. "A lot of times,
(drugs are) a way to escape worries about being accepted in school, or
other problems.

"They don't have enough tools to deal with life. A lot of times, the only
tool they have is anger. My job is to give them coping tools."

Several students have told Kammerer "you ruined a good high for me last
weekend," she said. "They say, 'Now I know what it's doing to my brain
chemistry and to my body, I just couldn't have as much fun as I used to.'"

That's often the beginning of a new direction as students work to change
their lifestyles.

The easily accessible counseling can be crucial to support those changes.

"Sometimes friends are excited and come on board, and they support each
other," said Kammerer. "Others say there's nothing wrong with what we're doing.

"That's the hardest part -- when you have the old friends who are still
using and you haven't made the new friends yet. That's when they really
need someone who believes in them and encourages them."