Preventure at one more school in Richmond, VA?

VCU and Beacon Tree will be resubmitting the PreVenture grant to NIH in November. Big grants take a long time and we had to make some changes per the NIH review.

While we wait, we might as well get the ball rolling and implement Preventure at one more school through Beacon Tree. Hanover County, VA is doing one school now, with a grant they got from ABC. That makes them the first in the US. There are two potential schools on the radar. I’ve spoken to one but open to others. Approval will need to happen fast since we need two school counselors to be able to go to a November 16 training. Oh, and we will need to find about $15k.

I want to be one of the 4 trainers. So I’m going to sign up for training if I get board approval.

I have wanted this to happen ever since I heard of this program.  Preventure focuses on mental health traits that show a predisposition to addiction–impulse control, hopelessness, sensation seeking and anxiety sensitivity. It’s one of the few programs that offers a combined an approach to mental health traits and addiction.

The Preventure intervention is not about lecturing on drugs, it’s about teaching kids skills to manage their potentially troublesome trait–helping them to learn to channel it those traits appropriately.

The measurement is the reduction in drug and alcohol use by the entire school. Up to 80% at 2-year follow up.  The training itself has so many other possibilities.

Want to know more about Preventure? Read this article I wrote earlier this year. 

So what do you think?

Is your child or spouse using? Signs of drug use