Back to school good time to discuss dangers of alcohol and drugs

By Steve Hedge –

For many fam­i­lies, Sep­tem­ber con­jures up ideas of back-to-school, foot­ball games and falling leaves. It is a highly emo­tional time filled with excite­ment, antic­i­pa­tion and uncer­tainty. For some chil­dren and ado­les­cents though, these emo­tions are over­run with new feel­ings of stress and anx­i­ety about school changes—everything from start­ing a new school to mak­ing good grades. The pres­sure chil­dren feel to excel aca­d­e­m­i­cally, ath­let­i­cally and to fit in with their peers begins much younger than you would think. For some chil­dren, these pres­sures result in alco­hol and drug use. Below are some sim­ple, effec­tive ways to help pre­vent your child (or a child you know) from get­ting involved with substances.

Talk early and often. Abuse of sub­stances can begin at a very young age; so reg­u­lar talks about the dan­gers of drugs and alco­hol is crit­i­cal. Start the dis­cus­sions early to estab­lish an open rela­tion­ship with your child, allow­ing them to more freely share the trou­bles they face. Try role-playing dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions. It is never too late to start talking!

De-stress. If you sense that your child is stressed in one or more areas, work together to teach them healthy ways to relax and enjoy life. Exer­cise or a sim­ple walk can break the tension.

Edu­cate. Famil­iar­ize your­self with today’s com­monly used sub­stances (alco­hol and mar­i­juana, for exam­ple), as well as new trends such as per­for­mance enhanc­ing drugs, “bath salts” and pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions. Addi­tion­ally, learn the warn­ing signs of sub­stance use.

Stay involved. Par­ents who are actively engaged in their children’s lives are more likely to have chil­dren who are able to resist the pres­sure to try drugs and alco­hol. Attend their sport­ing events and school plays. Know who their friends are and where they are going.

Form a com­mu­nity. Keep the lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion open with every­one you know. Friends, grand­par­ents, school rep­re­sen­ta­tives, clergy and more all form an impor­tant cir­cle of pre­ven­tion. Talk­ing with oth­ers will help you keep a pulse on trends and what’s hap­pen­ing with other chil­dren. There is a wide range of sup­port avail­able through­out the com­mu­nity should you ever need it.

Seek help when needed. If you dis­cover sub­stance abuse with your child, seek help. Sub­stance abuse does not dis­crim­i­nate and is present in all com­mu­ni­ties, so pre­tend­ing it is not an issue for your child will not help. Treat­ment works and recov­ery is pos­si­ble with the right assis­tance. Recov­ery ben­e­fits everyone.

The Delaware-Morrow Men­tal Health and Recov­ery Ser­vices Board (DMMHRSB) believe alco­hol and illicit drug aware­ness, pre­ven­tion and treat­ment is best achieved through a community-wide effort. As the archi­tect and sup­porter of the net­work of cost-effective, qual­ity ser­vices DMMHRSB and its provider agen­cies, such as Mary­haven and Recov­ery & Pre­ven­tion Resources of Delaware and Mor­row Coun­ties, work to assure that com­mu­nity resources are avail­able to help all res­i­dents. Fur­ther, the national health care reform will make pos­i­tive changes to sup­port bet­ter access to needed recov­ery ser­vices for sub­stance abuse and men­tal health disorders.

In addi­tion to treat­ment pro­grams for adults, youth and fam­i­lies, resources are made avail­able for an array of school-based pre­ven­tion and sup­port pro­grams so that the youth in our com­mu­nity under­stand the dan­gers of alco­hol and drugs and are empow­ered to make good decisions.

To find com­mu­nity addi­tional resources and links please logon to www.dmmhrsb.org.

By Steve Hedge is the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Delaware-Morrow Men­tal Health and Recov­ery Ser­vices Board

Posted by Randa Wagner on Sep 4 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.