The Adolescent Addiction Learning and Recovery Project
(AALRP) of Indiana Wesleyan University and
Fairbanks
Addiction Treatment Center
has received a
Children’s Mental Health Grant from Mental Health America of Indiana (MHAI).
MHAI awarded the grant to the group for the purpose of
aiding the AALRP in promoting the need for evidence-based prevention plans in
schools. Specifically, the grant enables the AALRP to host a series of training
sessions for over 60 superintendents by May 31, 2013.
The AALRP consists of faculty from IWU and staff from
Fairbanks, an Indiana-based drug and alcohol treatment center. The group
officially began on the first of this year but had applied for the grant last
November. The training sessions made possible by the grant will be the first
significant project for the group.
IWU faculty Drs. Richard Hooker and Douglas Daugherty will
be joined by adolescent clinical specialist Dr. Zigurd Zielke of Fairbanks to
provide the training for the sessions.
The sessions will be located in three regional training centers in Indianapolis,
Fort Wayne and Southwest Indiana.
The training will provide information that will include the
prevalence of substance abuse disorders in Indiana, the effects of substances on the
adolescent brain, the effects of
substance use on learning, behavior and academic performance, prevention and intervention strategies
that work and implementing
evidence-based practices in the schools.
Prior to the sessions, training providers will partner with
superintendents to determine how best to meet their district needs. In June,
they will present their findings of the training’s effectiveness at the MHAI symposium
at Union Station in Indianapolis.
“This is a great first venture for the AALRP as it provides us a chance
to influence school systems towards utilizing evidence-based practices—practices
proven to work. In doing so, we hope to help schools more effectively
meet children’s needs,” Hooker said.
Indiana Wesleyan University is an evangelical Christian comprehensive university of The Wesleyan Church committed to liberal arts and professional education. Over 3,000 students are enrolled in traditional programs on the main campus in Marion, Indiana. Nearly 12,500 adult learners study at education centers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, and online.