FCD Upper School Intensive Student Education Curriculum
The interests, needs, and life experiences of children and adolescents with regard to alcohol and other drug use change dramatically from age 5 to 18. Drug education is similar to sexuality education in that students absorb it and relate to it according to their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity. A lot of the basic "facts" need to be repeated as the content becomes more relevant to the child's stage of development and behavior. By upper or high school, many students will have experienced much of what was discussed in earlier years, either personally or through friends and loved ones. Now, in concurrent with such experience, they will challenge and question what they hear and be capable of higher levels of debate, understanding, and abstraction. As a result, students who have had drug education programs in elementary and middle school continue to benefit from ongoing exposure to information and discussion opportunities as maturing high school students.
The use or non-use of alcohol and other drugs affects virtually all of a teen's relationships: to society; to parents, siblings, and friends; to school, work, and play; to mind, mood, and body; to conscience and confidence; to integrity and aspiration; to how they perceive their past and their future; to their evolving emotional, intellectual, and spiritual lives.
The quality of these relationships is an indicator of the health of an individual, and where he or she stands along the continuum of risk and protective factors. Young people passionate about life, with strong connections to family, school, and community, are less likely to use or abuse alcohol or other drugs than are students with weak or dysfunctional connections. Indeed, one can think of "problem use" as use that creates a negative impact on a teen's relationships.
Thus, the hung-over student who is unreliable, who misses school or falls asleep in class, harms his or her relationships to teachers, school life, and future success. The lies and deception that go hand-in-hand with use are likely to damage a teen's sense of self-worth as well as family and peer relationships. This often occurs in a destructive cycle: Use damages relationships, and broken or unhealthy relationships increase the likelihood of use. This negatively reinforcing cycle can be a powerful engine in propelling a teen from initiation to use, from use to abuse, from abuse to dependency, and from dependency to severe addiction. This construct — the impact of use on relationships, and the impact of relationships on use — offers a provocative, relevant, and research-based entry point for examining the effects of alcohol and other drugs on the growing adolescent. It lies at the heart of the FCD’s Intensive Student Education Curriculum for Upper School Students.
The upper school curriculum is driven by discussion. Students receive articles and other reading material on the first day, and a high level of participation is generated throughout the four days. As the seminars progress, participants move from the "macro" to the "micro," from relationships between the individual and the larger culture, to relationships with family, friends, and community, to the most personal relationships of all — those of the individual to his or her own body, mind, identity, and future.
Seminar 1: Use and Culture
"How Drugs Affect Our Relationships with the World"
- Why and How People Use: A Historical, Cultural, and Geographic Perspective
- The Impact of Environment on Use and Non-Use
- Media Literacy: The Advertising and Marketing of Substances in Culture
- How Entertainment, Pop Culture, Sports, and Celebrities Affect Use
- Art, Music, and Literature: Promoting Use or Reflecting It?
- Mixed Messages: How Society Condones and Condemns Use
- Drugs and the Law: Legalization Issues, Drinking Ages, Drinking and Driving
Seminar 2: Use and Community
"How Drugs Affect Our Relationships with School, Family, and Friends"
- Social Norms: True and False Perceptions
- Addiction and the Family
- Friends: Helping and Hurting
- Denial, Enabling and Codependency
- Intervention: Recognizing Problem Use and Knowing How to Help
- Romance, Dating and Drugs
- Peer Pressure and Social Skills
- Normative Beliefs: When Perception Becomes Reality
- Drugs and Parenting
- Dealing with Substance Abuse Related Emergencies
- Helping Resources
Seminar 3: Use and the Individual—Part I
"How Drugs Affect Our Relationships to Our Body and Brain"
- Basic Drug Information: Alcohol/Tobacco/Marijuana/Caffeine/Club Drugs/Prescription Drugs/Over-the-Counter Drugs
- Brain-Body Chemistry/Physiological and Psychological Effects
- Progression: Use/Abuse/Dependency/Addiction
- Addiction, Progression, and Recovery: A Personal Perspective
- Risk and Protective Factors
- Drugs' Impact on Academic and Athletic Performance
Seminar 4: Use and the Individual—Part II
"How Drugs Affect Our Relationships to Our Inner Self"
- Drug Information Continued
- Interrelationships of Drugs and Maturity, Self-Esteem, Values, Character, Integrity, Conscience, and Spirituality
- Drugs and Sexuality
- Drugs and Goal Setting/Motivation/Depression
- Stress Management
- Self-Assessment Tools
- Natural Highs
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