MASONS OFFER DRUG TRAINING IN THE SCHOOLS

An estimated 4.6 million adolescents per year throughout the United States suffer health impairments, are involved in accidents, or are arrested as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.

The Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Missouri is sponsoring a statewide program to train school administrators, teachers and others how to target and prevent substance abuse in the schools.

"The program is designed to train school personnel in the early identification of substance abuse problems and to equip them with the know-how to do something about it," said Bill Askew, coordinator of anti-drug programming in the Cape Girardeau School District.

"We teach them how to use the resources within the community and how to function as a team to target kids at risk of substance abuse," he said. "Early diagnosis is the key to drug prevention."

Askew said that about 40 teams from schools throughout Southeast Missouri have signed up for this year's program on July 12 and 13.

"This is not a drug treatment program," says a brochure sent to all participants. "What makes the program unique and beneficial to those who participate is that it prepares a core team of qualified school personnel to identify behaviors symptomatic to drug or alcohol abuse, as well as recognized behaviors, which may indicate a student is at risk of suicide or other mental health problems."

The program addresses substance abuse within the school in five stages: identification, assessment, intervention, referral and follow-up.

For example, during the assessment phase, a student's teachers will be contacted so that data on the student's attendance, grades, performance and behavior can be compiled. Then the team will move on to the intervention phase.

The program goes as far as to teach the teams how to provide continuing care to the student, including support groups led by a team member, peer counselors assigned to the student and, or, daily contact from a core team member.

The training is unique in that it teaches school personnel at all levels to function as a unit to determine which action to take and to make best use of the resource pool within the school, Askew said.

"We do a lot of case-study-type things during the seminar," Askew said.

The Grand Lodge of Missouri created the Missouri Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Substance Abuse to combat among other things the growing drug problem in schools.

The program is fully funded by the Freemasons and open to all school personnel who work on a daily basis with children and especially at-risk children.

George Jenkins, secretary of the St. Marks Lodge 93 of Cape Girardeau, said his lodge is looking forward to co-hosting the program for the second consecutive year with the Harold O. Grauel Lodge 672 of Cape Girardeau.

"We had a real good turnout last year," Jenkins said. "We hope to draw even more this year it's a real good program, and it's free for the schools."