Opiate overdoses kill about five people a day in Massachusetts.

The Berkshire District Attorney’s office hopes to help combat this epidemic by potentially expanding its substance abuse prevention program, LifeSkills Training, in local schools through a possible grant from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.

Earlier this month, Healey’s office announced a $500,000 statewide Youth Opioid Prevention grant program, funded with part of a settlement by CVS Pharmacy, to support school-based prevention efforts addressing opioid addiction and dependence. If selected, the DA’s office could receive funding by February.

LifeSkills, a worldwide program developed by an expert on substance abuse prevention, has expanded in Berkshire County since its pilot sixth-grade program at Lee Elementary School in 2015, and is currently offered at 12 county schools, according to Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless.

In 2015, Gov. Charlie Baker’s opioid working group recommended that school districts implement prevention programs like LifeSkills Training. After extensive research, the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office determined that LifeSkills would be beneficial to the county, said Carol Mulcahy, director of community outreach and education for the DA’s office.

Three components – drug resistance, personal self-management and general social skills – make up LifeSkills’ eight- to 18-week program, which teaches self-esteem, stress management, communication and coping skills as well as drug resistance, she said.

The DA’s office would use grant funding for additional staff, training and supplies. The program has been extremely well-received, creating demand that strains the office’s resources, Capeless said.

“We want to be able to … have the funds to provide the tools and resources to anybody in Berkshire County who wants to do this,” Mulcahy said. Mulcahy, along with three other staff members, teaches the program in local schools.

Ideally, the DA’s office would be a training and materials resource for a countywide LifeSkills program from at least third- to eighth grade, Capeless said.

“We can use [a grant] to grow, create a full-fledged communitywide program, or even better, a communitywide attitude toward substance abuse,” he said. “One of the biggest obstacles that we face is a community that is lenient toward the use of drugs.”

The high rate of drug overdoses in Berkshire County is troubling, he said.

“Everybody knows we have to somehow, piece by piece, turn this around,” he said. “Education and training are part of that.”

LifeSkills is unique in that it goes beyond lecturing students. The program utilizes “behavioral rehearsal” strategies such as role-playing exercises to practice skills taught in the program, Mulcahy said.

Students looked forward to these hands-on exercises – even on Friday afternoons at Lee Elementary School.

“The students enjoy [the exercises] – that’s what they remember,” Mulcahy said. “It’s remarkable how you can kind of see a little light go off. I came back in awe when I saw the practical application of this program.”

The program helps students understand how substances affect them personally and socially as well as biologically. The social elements of LifeSkills helps develop the students as people, enabling them to make proper decisions in all areas, Capeless said.

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