Troubled Teens Resources

Long a leader in teenage crisis intervention, a new study reveals that the new DARE program, “Take Charge of Your Life”, is producing positive results with pre-adolescents.

“…those students who received the New D.A.R.E. 7th grade program, “Take Charge of Your Life,” continued in the 8th grade to have improved scores on decision-making skills and beliefs that drug use is socially inappropriate.”

DARE has revamped the program with aggressive high tech presentations and greater interaction between police and the teen.

“The New D.A.R.E. curricula for the 7th and 9th grade incorporate the latest in prevention science and teaching techniques, including high-tech, interactive, and decision-model-based approaches. New D.A.R.E. officers are trained as “coaches” to support kids as they try-out research-based refusal strategies in high-stakes peer-pressure environments. New D.A.R.E. students get to see for themselves — via stunning brain imagery — tangible proof of how substances diminish mental activity, emotions, coordination and movement.”
(Source)

Parents need as many tools as possible to fight the scourge of teen age drug addiction. See if DARE is active in your school and make use of the tools that they provide. It is a sad commentary, but also a stark reality, that elementary school children need to be equipped to fight the popular drug culture that inundates their iPods and MTV.