Preventing substance abuse by identifying those who are most at risk before they develop an addiction is the goal of a program coming to two Starke County high schools. This week, the Knox and Oregon-Davis school boards learned about the PreVenture program. Indianapolis-based nonprofit Overdose Lifeline received funding from the Division of Mental Health and Addiction to offer the program in seven Indiana counties, including Starke, Pulaski, and LaPorte.
Overdose Lifeline Director of Policy and Research Savi Brenneke said PreVenture targets students by personality type. “We screen students that are at the highest risk or demonstrate certain thinking patterns that are associated with anxiety, sensitivity, impulsivity, negative thinking, and anxiety sensitivity,” she explained. “Those are highly-correlated with, later in life, substance use, as well as other issues in life.”
As part of the program, high school freshmen are given a questionnaire asking how much they agree or disagree with certain statements. “That would be, for example, ‘I would like to learn how to drive a motorcycle,’ or ‘It scares me when my heartbeat changes,'” Brenneke said. “That helps us look at their thinking process.”
Based on those results, students are placed into personality groups. Those considered to be at high risk of substance abuse are then invited to take part in two 90-minute group sessions. “They work through identifying what triggers their thinking, how that thinking kind of manifests itself in their actions, and then learning goal-setting and coping skills that then could help them make better decisions and reflect on how their thinking results in certain behaviors and actions and how they can improve that,” Brenneke said.
Brenneke said the group sessions are facilitated by two Overdose Lifeline staff members who are certified with the PreVenture program. She explained that the program is confidential and what happens in a group stays within the group. However, Knox Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart and Oregon-Davis Superintendent Dr. Don Harman both plan to have a school staff member present, as well.
As part of Overdose Lifeline’s funding agreement, it’s also required to collect statistics on substance use, to measure how well the program is working. Brenneke added that parents will have the chance to decide whether or not they want their children to take part in the PreVenture program.
The Oregon-Davis School Board voted unanimously to allow PreVenture to be offered at the high school. Knox School Board members agreed but were not asked to take formal action. Brenneke added that initial screenings have already taken place at North Judson-San Pierre High School.
She said that the PreVenture program began in Canada, and Overdose Lifeline is the first organization to implement it in the United States.
