Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (Fall 2001)

Did you know?

Elementary school-aged children are experiencing pressure to use alcohol and other drugs at earlier ages, and today's teens are most likely to start using alcohol, tobacco and marijuana before they reach age 15.*

This alarming news is cause for concern for parents and communities. With that in mind, a community partnership in Fort Collins is working to help parents, youths and residents find ways to address—and hopefully decrease—these problems.

TEAM Fort Collins is a community coalition established to address drug and alcohol issues in the community, according to Deirdre Sullivan, Drug-Free Communities Project Director and Interim Director of the organization. It does so by promoting to area youth, their families and the community a healthy lifestyle through education and awareness about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse and tobacco use.

"Here's Looking at You" builds on the positive aspects of DARE, Sullivan explains. "It is much more skill-based," she says, explaining that through scenarios and other techniques, students learn refusal skills training. The program also incorporates the importance of family interaction and healthy friendships.

For area seventh-graders, TEAM Fort Collins offers "Project Alert," a drug and alcohol resistance curriculum, also focusing on development of skills.

"This program is taught in several area schools, and is available to both public and private schools," Sullivan explains.

TEAM Fort Collins also addresses high school students through "Teen Baseline," a daylong training designed to help 10th-graders identify beliefs and evaluate choices they make about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Outside of the schools, TEAM Fort Collins sponsors youth events geared toward providing positive activities and interaction. Activities include Teen Splashdances, held three times a year, and Youth Fest, a community-wide event that showcases the fun and positive youth activities available here.

TEAM Fort Collins also recognizes the importance of parental involvement in children's lives and offers various workshops and materials to assist parents in gaining skills to prevent drug and alcohol use by their children. Parental programs include:

• The Parent Connection—Designed to assist parents of children ages 5 to 10 in enhancing family communication, helping children learn to avoid risky behavior and talking with other parents facing similar concerns.

• Preparing for the Drug-Free Years—Helps parents of adolescents ages 11 to 15 prevent drug abuse in their family by: developing a family position on drugs; building skills in their children for resisting pressures to use drugs and alcohol; managing family conflict; and strengthening family bonds.

• Parents Who Care—A session for parents of high school students to help them discuss crucial decisions their children are facing.

A new addition to TEAM Fort Collins is the "Drug-Free Workplace Program," a plan to reduce drug abuse in small businesses by providing information and resources about the benefits of implementing comprehensive drug-free workplace programs.

Through these and other programs, TEAM Fort Collins strives to help solve the problem of drug and alcohol use in the community. As TEAM literature points out: "Awareness and education are the first steps toward the solution."

*Source: TEAM Fort Collins