Social Discipline Window, www.iirp.org - Click to Enlarge

Teen Brain Ad from Allstate - Click to Enlarge

ALERT Lab's Social Norms Prevention Philosophy is "Normative" and "Restorative"

ALERT's 10 years of research on college and high school student use of AOD* in Kent and Ottawa Counties, and reviews of the extensive national research on AOD use among young people reveals that there is no such thing as a "harmless" level of substance use among teens. (*AOD includes alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, illegal drugs, and prescription and over-the-counter medicines that can result in a "high" and are addictive.)

This leads to our BASIC PREMISE: All use of addictive substances prior to the development of maturity (at age 21+ for women and at age 25+ for men) causes brain damage resulting in learning deficits; thus it is critically important to prevent underage substance use. This reduced ability to learn 

1. inhibits the acquisition of both work and social skills during the teen years and
2. results in performance deficits in the adult years.

NOTE: “Teen drinkers perform worse in school [have academic problems], and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence [including acquaintance rape]. Alcohol also disrupts the release of hormones necessary for growth and maturation.” (American Medical Association:   http://www.ama-assn.org/)

Brain development is at a peak during the teen years.  Most importantly, teenagers are developing the abilities that are often labeled "the CEO Skills:" the ability

• to make rational judgments,
• to identify priorities and organize to achieve them,
• to accurately assess risk and choose to avoid extremely dangerous courses of action,
• to acquire and see the relationship (associations) among pieces of information, 
• to remember what has been learned and its significance, etc. 

According to the American Medical Association (AMA), teenagers who experience brain damage during this period of development have limited CEO skills and can NEVER catch up with peers who did not experience such damage.  Also, one drink (one 12 oz. beer, 4 oz. wine, or shot of alcohol) for a teen does the brain damage of two drinks for an adult.  Thus the teenager who has four - five drinks in an evening ("binges"), does eight - ten drinks worth of damage to his/her brain.  See Resources>Articles Harmful Consequences of Alcohol Use on the Brains of Children.

Because AOD harms the brains of teenagers we are committed to PREVENTION and we provide support to parents who are also committed to protecting their children.  

A.  Through reinforcement of active PARENTING (including professional intervention) and reinforcement of Social NORMS (through parents and through school-based communication campaigns), we can prevent substance-related harm to the health, well-being and safety of our children. 

Support for Parenting is provided through our Parents are Heroes Newsletters, free monthly publications through email (see About Us>Newsletters at http://www.alertlabs.org/newsletter.php) and  brochures (see Programs>Parents are Heroes for Parents are Heroes Brochure and 21 Reasons Brochure.  These materials are based on the results of both Student and Parent Surveys (see Survey: High School Students, Survey: Parents, and Analysis of Results: Parent Survey under Resources>Articles and under Resources>Surveys).  All of these sources help Parents to discover what the norms are among their children and their friends from school and provide strategies for using that information.

Parents can, in most cases, prevent their children from using alcohol and other drugs.  The first step may seem obvious, but it is also fundamental: 

1. Never serve alcohol (or any other drug) to your own or others' children, or allow anyone else to serve them alcohol or other drugs.  It is illegal on any occasion (including holidays) and in any place (including your own home). Also, it is important to lock liquor cabinets and medicine cabinets in order to avoid temptation or accidents.

Not only are the "unfinished" brains of children  highly vulnerable to damage from AOD, but ADDICTION (a chronic, progressive, incurable, and terminal disease) begins in adolescence.  In fact, nearly 50% of children who begin drinking prior to age 15 will suffer from addiction later in their teens and adulthood.  Very few individuals who wait to begin drinking until they are age 21 will every suffer from addiction.  Vigilance thus pays off many times over.

       2.  The second step in protecting children from brain damage and addiction is to make use of proven parent strategies such as the following:

• Talk to your children about alcohol and other drugs and learn about the dangers. Make use of web sites such as www.timetotalk.org  and others listed in brochures under MEDIA.  Tell your children, "We strongly disapprove of underage drinking and use of marijuana or other drugs, including other people's prescriptions."  MSA research shows that 90% of high school students who know that this is how their parents feel, choose NOT to drink and 98% of those who do not drink, also do not use marijuana or other drugs.
• Model Moderation if you drink alcohol, remember that women should have no more than one drink per day and men no more than two drinks per day and neither should drink every day.  Heavy (dangerous) drinking is defined as 7 or more drinks per week for women and 14 or more drinks per week for men.  According to National Surveys, last year 75% of Americans drank moderately, lightly, or not at all. See: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_230.pdf  and http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/terms.htm#excessive .
• Monitor your children and your children's friends and know where they are, especially on weekends or after 10:00 p.m. on weekdays, times we know that temptations to drink and use are most prevalent.  The most common source of the first drink or cigarette (whether of tobacco or marijuana) is friends. If your children's friends use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, your children are at high risk.  Also, if you know that your children's friends use AOD, you will be doing them a favor if you tell their parents what you know.

Other parents can also help you.  Let them know that you want to be told if they see your children using AOD.  Parent Surveys tell us that most parents (98%) welcome a call from you to make sure that AOD will not be allowed in teen parties at their house and that there will be adult supervision.

B. Where Prevention has failed, we can Intervene in order to communicate relevant Social Norms and RESTORE young people to the health and well-being that was damaged by substance use.

We strongly encourage Parents to:

Seek professional help immediately upon learning, or strongly suspecting, that your children are using AOD.  Use almost always starts with alcohol and/or cigarettes.  The STARR Program is available to help students stop using, and is effective with 90% of alcohol and marijuana users, as well as with 50% of cigarettes smokers.  STARR is especially recommended as a "diversion" from court for students who have received an MIP.  If one of your children does get in trouble with the Police, we hope you will use this occasion as a "teachable moment."

Call  the STARR Intervention program facilitator, Geoffery Stevens, a Licensed Social Worker practicing in Grand Rapids, at 269-929-2333.  If your high school is served by ALERT Labs, your child can enroll, free of charge, in the program and receive four sessions with a skilled interventionist. If your high school is not a part of the Project, your child can still enroll. If you have insurance covering behavioral and mental health, you can should call the provider to make a claim.  If your child is not covered by insurance and has financial need, cost will be adjusted and the program will help to identify other sources of funding.  No young person will be turned away for financial reasons.

See the PowerPoint on STARR at Programs >STARR Brief Intervention....(http://www.alertlabs.org/programs.php?program_id=4) and learn more about SBIRT's (Screening and Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment programs) at www.sbirt.samhsa.gov/about.htm

The following are under construction:

Prevention via Social Norms-Based Communication 

Prevention via Motivational Early Intervention