Social Work Web site will Inventory Youth Programs |
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May 14, 2002 -- Information about community and school-based programs and activities that have proven effective in steering Wyoming young people away from violence, substance abuse and other social and health problems will soon be available on the Web.
Jeffrey Olson, professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Social Work, is compiling a database containing information on successful community programs to be available through the Web site for the UW Center for Rural Health Research and Education (CRHRE). In the pilot phase of the project, Olson is focusing on programs in the Laramie area. He intends to broaden the study in later phases to include communities across the state.
"The target audience for the information we're gathering and putting online is not kids themselves," Olson says, "but rather adults who work with pre-adolescents and teenagers. We want to make information available about practices and programs that are proven to teach young people how to make healthy social choices."
Olson says successful programs fit into a community's existing social environment. "For example, in Wyoming we have a very strong commitment to self-reliance and non-intervention by government in personal and family life," he notes. So, he says, youth intervention programs that will work in Wyoming will offer adults and young people a range of choices that promote social health.
Parents and other adults already may be doing things that are considered prevention, Olson says. "Elementary school teachers may not realize that the way they have their students line up to come in from recess can be prevention. Turning that simple event into a learning experience for a young child by creatively channeling the energy instead of expecting the kids to line up in silence is shown to keep kids more engaged in school and may actually lower the likelihood of academic failure in later grades." Olson says community programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters likewise create healthy social environments in which young people can make active, constructive choices.
"All children are capable of making healthy social choices," he says. "This project is identifying ways to create social environments that encourage them to do so, environments that give kids the opportunities and skills to make healthy choices and then reward them for doing that."
The Wyoming Division on Substance Abuse funds the Laramie Prevention Project. The interactive Web site will direct adults to appropriate information using a series of questions about their own skills, interests and resources. Olson says the Albany County Well Aware Committee, which is part of the Wyoming Health Resources Network, also will use the assessment information to further develop effective intervention programs. Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2002
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