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Guiding Good Choices
To sign up for this program or to learn more about its availability through the Learning First Foundation please click here.
Guiding Good Choices is a multimedia drug prevention program that gives parents of children in grades four through eight (8 to13 years old) the knowledge and skills needed to guide their children through early adolescence. It seeks to strengthen and clarify family expectations for behavior, enhance the conditions that promote bonding in the family, and teach skills to parents and children that allow children to meet the expectations of their family to resist drug use successfully.
GGC grew from research that showed that positive parental involvement is an important factor in helping children resist substance use and other antisocial behaviors. The curriculum was developed to teach parents the skills they need to reduce the risk factors and enhance the protective factors that can help prevent substance abuse in their families.
The five sessions cover the following topics:
Session 1: Getting Started - How to prevent drug use in your family
Session 2: Setting Guidelines - How to develop healthy beliefs and clear standards
Session 3: Avoiding Trouble - How to say no to drugs
Session 4: Managing Conflict - How to control and express your anger constructively
Session 5: Involving Everyone - How to strengthen family bonds
The program reviews refusal skills designed to enhance children’s ability to avoid partaking in alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as non-drug risk behaviors. Parents practice these skills with their children.
It’s a five-session curriculum that is interactive and skill based, with opportunities for parents to practice new skills and receive feedback. It uses video-based vignettes that demonstrate parenting skills. Families receive a Family Guide containing family activities, discussion topics, skill-building exercises, and information on positive parenting. A few examples of key program approaches are below.
Setting Clear Family Expectations on Drugs and Alcohol
Parents learn to clarify their own expectations on alcohol and other drug use and relay those expectations to their children.
Avoiding Trouble
Children attend this session with their parents. Using the five steps of Refusal Skills, together they learn skills to resist peer influences to use drugs or alcohol or to engage in antisocial behavior.
Managing Family Conflict
Parents learn skills to express and control anger without damaging family bonds. Parents also learn to model and teach these skills to their children.
Strengthening Family Bonds
Parents learn skills to express positive feelings and love for their children.
To learn more about this program visit the following websites:
http://www.channing-bete.com/prevention-programs/guiding-good-choices/facts-and-faqs.php
http://promisingpractices.net/program.asp?programid=91
http://casat.unr.edu/bestpractices/view.php?program=43
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