Programming Details
Below is a deeper dive into all of the programs used by Student Services.
Too Good for Drugs
Universal Programs that are implemented with all students in K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6th grade in Belmont County and in the 1, 3, 6, and 9 grade in Monroe County. Too Good is a comprehensive family of evidence-based substance use and violence prevention interventions designed to mitigate the risk factors linked to problem behaviors and build protection within the child to resist problem behaviors.
Too Good develops and reinforces a comprehensive skills framework including setting reachable goals, making responsible decisions, identifying and managing emotions, and effective communication in addition to peer-pressure refusal, pro-social peer bonding, and peaceful conflict resolution skills.
Too Good builds the basis for a safe, supportive, and respectful learning environment.
Find our more about Too Good here: https://toogoodprograms.org/
Red Flags in Childhood Depression
Universal program that is implemented with all students in the 6th grade in Belmont and Monroe Counties. Red Flags is first and foremost a design for prevention that promotes:
- The understanding of good emotional and behavioral health and the development of sound mental health habits.
- An awareness that mental illnesses occur on a continuum from mild to severe
- The ability to recognize early warning signs
- Knowing when and where to ask for help
Find more information about Red Flags here: https://www.redflags.org/
Signs of Suicide
Universal program that is implemented with all students in the 9th grade in Belmont and Monroe Counties. It is an evidence-based youth suicide prevention program that has demonstrated an improvement in students’ knowledge and adaptive attitudes about suicide risk and depression.
Designed for grades 6-12, SOS teaches students how to identify signs of depression and suicide in themselves and their peers, while providing materials that train school professionals, parents, and communities to recognize at-risk students and take appropriate action.
Find out more about Signs of Suicide here: https://www.mindwise.org/
Responsible Social Values Program
Universal program that is implemented with all students in 6, 7, 8 grade in Belmont County and in the 8th grade in Monroe County. Students in sixth, seventh, and 8th grades participate in five-day RSVP sessions where they learn how positive character qualities (respect, responsibility, self-control, honesty and courage) help them to avoid risk behaviors and build healthy relationships.
- Sixth Grade – students learn character and friendship qualities, delayed gratification, resistance skills.
- Seventh Grade – students learn how to recognize the characteristics of healthy relationships, future dating standards including dating violence prevention, goal setting and the benefits of avoiding unhealthy behaviors.
- Eighth Grade – students learn the responsibilities of parenting, how to set and keep physical boundaries and decision making skills.
Find our more about the RSVP program here: https://all4youth.org/
Relationship Under Construction
Universal program implemented in the 9th grade in all Belmont and Monroe County Schools. The RUC program lessons teach the consequences of risk behaviors,
including sexual activity, diseases, alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, bullying, dating
violence, gambling, pornography, and human trafficking. RUC focuses on primary prevention to achieve optimal health for all students.
Find out more about RUC here: https://www.relationshipsunderconstruction.com/about
Youth Led Prevention
Youth-led programs are designed to empower young people to affect change in their communities and provide spaces for Ohio youth to develop critical learning, innovation, life, and career skills. By engaging in this process, youth contribute to building healthier, safer, and more resilient communities throughout Ohio.
Youth-led programs are community-based processes where young people:
- Determine a problem of practice by examining local and state data on issues concerning Ohio youth
- Identify the root causes of their problem of practice
- Select and implement evidence-based strategies to address those root causes
In Belmont County, the youth led prevention program is referred to as YEP (Youth Empowerment Program) and Monroe County’s program goes by the name Monroe Rising. Currently, each school has a group of students that work collectively to create change in their local community/school. Each group has an Adult Ally that facilitates the youth led prevention program in their own school.
Find out more about YLP here: https://www.ohioadultallies.com/ https://preventionactionalliance.org/connect/ohio-youth-led-prevention-network/
Small Education Groups
Small education groups allow for those students who may be at a higher risk for substance use or mental health issues due to specific risk factors in their lives. Some of these risk factors include, but are not limited to:
- Being a child of a substance abusing parent
- Being a child of an incarcerated parent
- Living below the poverty line
- Being a child of divorced or single parents
- Lack of social skills
- History of adverse childhood experiences
- Domestic violence in the home
- Experiencing chronic health issues
- Loss or grief
Early Intervention & Guided Student Supports
Each school has a prevention specialist who helps students deal with non-academic barriers to their learning. Students in need participate in short-term, solution focused interventions that help them deal with situations that are affecting their well being. Students who are in need of more intensive interventions or treatment are referred to school-based mental health therapists or community agencies for further assistance and help