A.W.A.R.E.

Background

A.W.A.R.E. was created based on the vision of its founder — through his own personal experience, he witnessed the devastating effects of drug and alcohol addiction. He determined in 2007 to do something about this pervasive illness in our society. Inspired by his two teenage daughters, he decided to focus on reaching middle school aged children to help them avoid the negative choices that lead to drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. With a team of experts in addiction and prevention education, the founder created the A.W.A.R.E. program. Through its unique approach to reaching middle school students and their parents, A.W.A.R.E. aims to help prevent the next generation of teenagers from falling into the grips of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction.

School Focus Approach

Objective: The AWARE program is specific targeting middle school age children in providing a distinct awareness to alcohol and drug, life coping skills, and development of inter and intra personal abilities.

Goal: Through the incorporation of knowledge and experience, children and their adult care takers will experience an effective means of prevention of alcohol and drug abuse and a continued sustainable ability for wellness and health.

Outline of the AWARE Program

This is an up to nine week program that is incorporated into the middle school setting with a specific series of lessons and activities. The modality of this program is Person Centered using Motivational Enhancement to empower both the student and the adult care takers at home. The program is led by a school facilitator with support, training and over all supervision of a trained AWARE staff member.

The core functions of the AWARE process are:

1. Life Skills: It is not simple survival - it is Life.
A. Growing up in today’s world: what to expect, know and understand
In this module the student learns life skills that he/she can use in every day life.
B. Knowing yourself and knowing others
This module focuses on communication skills with themselves and their peers.
C. How to teach your parents how to listen
In this focus the student teaches the parent. It will be the student’s responsibility to teach the parent how to hold a conversation and to listen to a teenager through the student being the teacher.

2. It’s in the know: Self empowerment by knowing the Real facts on drugs and alcohol
A. Treasure hunt for facts: learning to seek knowledge, comparing facts, and developing healthy decision making skills.
This exercise is a practical educational task that requires the students to develop research skills by participating in a treasure hunt. This treasure hunt uses web- based information, interviewing skills, and sharing skills which culminate in a final point of understanding, knowledgebase and experience.
B. This unit contains informational facts regarding drugs and alcohol that the student will validate through their research/treasure hunt.

3. What color are your thoughts?
This module deals with culture and race. Instead of focusing on the “color” of a person’s skin, it delves into values, morals, beliefs, and ideas and how each individual uses these in preconceived ideas. The world is not simple “black and white” but a series of grey and other colors. It is through this experience and recognition that the students can challenge their values, morals, beliefs and ideas and that of others - to look at the shade of the person’s character.

4. Who are you to be?
The focus of this module is to take all the accumulated knowledge and experience and establish personal goals. Each person has a view of themselves and how they think others perceive them. With the previous modules the students will begin to view themselves the way they want to be viewed and then begin to map out how to achieve that sense of self.
A. Exercise: Is that really me?
Each student will interact with a peer or peers to experience a deeper sense of self. We tend to judge “our inside self” based on the way others perceive “our outside self”. It is through this understanding that the students develop their own self esteem.
B. Exercise: Self esteem is a gift I give myself
The focus of this exercise is for the students to learn to reach outside of themselves and extend the possibility of what they can do. By coping with success both  internally and externally and in the same way coping with failure both internally and externally, they learn that an external failure can still be an internal success.

5. Welcome!
Very few cultures in our world have the concept of the stages of adolescence. In the culture of the U.S. there is little to no established rite of passage. It is through sub-cultures that arbitrary rites of passage are performed. An example is in the use of alcohol and drugs. The societal message is that alcohol and drugs are bad for you, don’t do them. But the sub-culture message is that only when you drink or use drugs are you considered to be an adult. In some cultures in the U.S., going to prison is a rite of passage. This module takes all the previous modules and empowers the student to a new healthier rite of passage by promoting self esteem, knowledge, communication skills, and coping skills. It provides the student with a distinct accomplishment, tangible abilities, and practical experience. At this point the student will be empowered to create a sustainable, healthy and clean life.