Tackling Opioid Abuse Through Peer-to-Peer Training

August 29, 2018

UD Cooperative Extension trains Seaford students on preventing opioid abuse

Seaford High School students spent three days in August training with University of Delaware faculty and staff to become peer educators and health ambassadors. Their training is part of a new, national initiative dubbed Well Connected Communities — an effort to cultivate wellness across the country. National 4-H Council and the Cooperative Extension System, which includes land grant institutions such as UD, is equipping volunteer leaders to help their neighbors be healthier at every stage of life.

In Delaware, the Sussex County Health Coalition identified Seaford as an innovator community — looking at how health needs of the community can be addressed in new, creative ways. The youth health ambassador and peer educator model is an example of that.

Once trained, the Seaford 11 will deliver Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST), a nationally recognized anti-substance abuse curriculum. Traditionally, Botvin is offered as a provider training model, with Delaware 4-H educators presenting the evidence-based program to adult teachers for presentation in middle school classrooms.

As the first model in the country to use direct peer-to-peer education, everyone involved in the effort is eager to see the results. Pre- and post-tests will be analyzed by Botvin at the national level.

The first day of the Seaford students’ training focused on the Botvin LifeSkills Training Curriculum taught by Delaware 4-H Botvins educator Lindsay Hughes. Botvin’s interactive lessons emphasizes feedback, role playing, mindfulness and specific life skills designed to empower students to resist the pressures that often accompany making a wrong decision regarding violence, tobacco, alcohol or drug abuse. Botvin LST boasts a 75 percent reduction in drug use from their program.

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