Danielle Poe, Director of the Rural Health Opioid Project (RHOP), hopes to instill an important life lesson about self-sufficiency and self-esteem in students across Adams County’s three school districts.

To accomplish that goal, Poe’s office, with assistance from the Adams County Health Department and the Coalition for a Drug Free Adams County, has introduced the evidence-based Botvin LifeSkills Training Program in all three county school districts in Ohio.

The program has won high praise from school districts across the country for its effectiveness in promoting drug abuse prevention.

“This training is designed to give the students a mindset that leads them to make healthy decisions for themselves,” says Poe. “It’s not a curriculum that simply talks about not using drugs, it teaches them how to build an internal attitude that will naturally lead them to say no to substances and other risky behaviors that could put their lives at risk.”

The course consists of eight modules focused on life skills like setting goals, building relationships, and developing the ability to cope with stress.

The program is grant funded by the Rural Health Opioid Program (RHOP) through the Adams County Health Department.

This school year the Ohio Valley School District is fully implementing the Botvin program while the Manchester Local School District is using it in fifth and sixth grade classes, and the Adams County Christian School with high school classes only.

Poe, who is both a certified Trauma Practitioner and certified Prevention Specialist with degrees in Human Services and Counseling, says we need a movement that helps the public understand what children are experiencing today in their home environments.

“This program allows me to work with community members to provide education on what substance abuse really is and how it works on the brain and impacts children who are exposed to it,” she says. “When kids are facing trauma in their homes we need to know what that looks like – why aren’t they learning like they once did, why are they being diagnosed with things like Oppositional Defiance Disorder and ADHD at record rates, and how are those diagnoses linked to the trauma they experience living in poverty, or in violent households.”

Read full article: Local school districts offering Life Skills training