An exciting after school drug prevention program for youth, ages 10-14 years, as this developmental period has been identified as a "window of increased vulnerability" when youth are more likely to begin using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
Purpose: The acronym "R.O.C.K." represents the mission of the Afternoons R.O.C.K. in Indiana program to provide Recreation, Object lessons, Culture and values and Knowledge via active and entertaining focused and supportive prevention activities designed to teach youth about social and media influences, conflict resolution and refusal/resistance skills, gang and violence prevention, and the structuring of leisure time to be free of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.
Need: Recognizing youth between the ages of 10 and 14 require constructive, supervised activities during the after school hours of 3pm and 6pm, Afternoons R.O.C.K. in Indiana provides youth with a prescribed strategy of structured and unstructured activities that promote positive social relationships and skills during these "three critical hours" of unsupervised time during which today's youth often find themselves tempted to engage in risky behaviors such as experimentation with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs as well as vandalism, gang activity, and sexual experimentation. Each year, over 14,000 youth attend 80% of the days that the program is offered and they complete 100% of the "focused" prevention hours.
Results from the annual survey of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use by Indiana Children and Adolescents funded by the Division of Mental Health and Addiction and administered by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center reveal that almost two-thirds of all new experimentation with drugs among youth in Indiana occurs between the end of sixth grade and the end of ninth grade.
Implementation: Since the program's inception in 1997, the Indiana Prevention Resource Center (IRPC) has contracted with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction to provide technical assistance to 14 Local Prevention Services Coalitions that bring the Afternoons R.O.C.K. in Indiana program to targeted youth in each of Indiana's 92 counties. IPRC staff provide extensive technical assistance and support for the Afternoons R.O.C.K. in Indiana programs, including comprehensive support in the areas of contract requirements, data management, program management, program design and implementation as well as evaluation. The IPRC encourages incorporation of state-of-the-art prevention research and theory into a community-level prevention practice based on "best practice" strategies for prevention.
The Prevention Coalitions are just one part of the Indiana prevention system and provide one part of the strategic action necessary to increase the health and well being of youth. The prevention system in Indiana closely links the Department of Education, State Department of Health, the Division of Mental Health and Addiction and other state agencies to their community prevention partners and to volunteer community organizations such as the Local Coordinating Councils.
Contact: David Bozell 317-232-7868 David.Bozell@fssa.in.gov
12-10-04