Written by: Christina D. DeFalco, Prevention Director, Substance Awareness Center of Indian River County, FL

The Substance Awareness Center of Indian River County is proud to introduce Carrie Lester as the new Executive Director, whose passion, dedication, and expertise and will lead the agency in its mission: “To lead the community towards a healthier lifestyle by reducing the incidence of substance abuse in Indian River County through prevention, treatment, and recovery support.”  Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) program is an integral part of the Center accomplishing this important mission.

The Substance Awareness Center offers Botvin LifeSkills Training to approximately 5,000 Indian River County students each year in 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades. Our LST Team consists of five trained facilitators who teach with passion, care, commitment, empathy and love for each child; establishing a positive relationship, wrapping them in the protective factors they need to be safe and healthy.

Botvin LifeSkills Training continues to be embraced by not only by everyone in the school district (from students to faculty to district administrators and board) but also by the parents, county businesses, and residents of our community at large. LST is offered in seven middle schools and nine elementary schools.  When our Sherriff’s office cancelled D.A.R.E. for the 2018-2019 school term for 5^th grade, LifeSkills Training was brought in, and the outstanding results speak for themselves.

The Substance Awareness Center recently partnered with National Health Promotion Associates to organize focus groups for the new LST prescription drug abuse prevention module. These focus groups took place in two local participating high schools, with students, faculty, and administrators offering positive feedback.  We look forward to delivering this new material to our students.

We emphasize strict adherence to the fidelity of the LST curriculum, but we also make it fun.  Students love behavior rehearsal; they call it acting! Each LST Facilitator has a director’s clip board for the student director to call “quiet on the set” and “action” for each rehearsal.  School district teachers ask to be involved in each lesson, too. They enjoy taking part in what we are teaching and observing the students’ response to the lessons.  Teachers share that they themselves are also making changes in the areas of self-management/self-improvement and general social skills–many have even stopped their addiction to smoking—thanks to the skill-building lessons they have observed.

LifeSkills Training is not just a class; it is a way of life in our schools and it changes lives.

Prevention is a partnership; and prevention works!