As an educator, you have likely seen first-hand the havoc that substance abuse can wreak for young people. The YMCA Youth Substance Abuse Program was developed to help you respond to these challenges with educational services and peer mentoring.
Educational services
Our education and counselling service is designed to help youth between the ages of 16 and 24 address the issues related to the abuse of substances such as alcohol and drugs. Our aim is to work with you and/or your students to provide:
- Weekly or bi-weekly group meetings to help educate your students about substance abuse. These groups can be open or closed and facilitated either by our staff, your staff, or jointly
- One-time or regular presentations on key issues related to overcoming substance abuse
- Staff training and development to help your team counsel students about substance abuse and speak to them about harm reduction strategies and other health-related issues
- Individual counselling at several outreach locations
Peer mentoring
The YMCA Youth Substance Abuse Program has a peer mentoring component designed to help youth interact with one another to gain more education about the harms related to drug use and discuss strategies for reducing risks such as disease and injury.
Operated at high schools throughout the Greater Toronto Area, this program includes six key components:
- An educational teacher presentation that focuses on harm reduction, explains the signs of substance abuse, and provides referrals to community resources
- A grade 11 and 12 assembly to discuss harm reduction techniques and recruit students to become peer mentors
- Six sessions with the grade 11 and 12 volunteer mentors to provide them with in-depth education about harm reduction, facts on drugs and alcohol, drug and alcohol user stereotypes, boundaries, confidentiality, leadership skills, role playing, and community resources
- A presentation for parents to help them communicate with their children about drug and alcohol use, identify the signs of abuse, and gain access to community resources
- A grade 9 and 10 assembly where the school’s peer mentors present a skit or conduct their own presentation about substance abuse in an attempt to educate their peers
- A grade 9 and 10 breakout group that takes place following the assembly. This gives participants the opportunity to ask questions of the peer mentors and their adult supervisors, such as YMCA Youth Substance Abuse Program counsellors, Toronto Public Health nurses, and Toronto District School Board social workers
For more information about the program contact your local centre
