-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
BSU works toward a ‘Drug Free Idaho’
Archive
Comments
Story
Boise State’s Health and Wellness services, in collaboration with DrugFree, Idaho will be offering a class to aid students who are parents of strong-willed children. The Parenting Challenge will take place March 15 in the Ah Fong room of the Student Union from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is free. This educational program was adapted from the Northern Illinois Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Parent Project. It is designed to meet the needs of parents in the workplace and community by addressing issues in effective prevention. These include enriching family relationships and preventing substance abuse along with other high-risk behavior.
“Parents will explore why traditional parenting techniques don’t work with strong-willed children and will begin to develop a parenting and communication plan that fits the needs of parents and teens, and reduces power-struggles and chaos in the home,” Jodi Brawley, Health and Wellness Center Health educator, said.
The Parenting Challenge focuses on five areas: establishing supportive networks among parents, improving parent/child relationships, improving parent skills in preventing and identifying substance abuse problems in themselves and their children, improving corporate climate for workers and increasing a parent’s ability to balance work and family life.
“Many BSU students are parents and they balance work, school and family life. Bringing a program like this to campus will help students get the training in a convenient location,” Brawley said.
According to Brawley, Health, Wellness and Counseling Services has tried to offer this program before but low enrollment has prevented it from occurring.
Class facilitator Tammy Parker sees this class as a benefit to those who try to balance a lot of plates like work, studies and family.
“Anyone who is going to come in contact with family and children will find benefit in these classes,” Parker said.
Parker believes that the key to bringing order into a chaotic home is to enhance parenting tools.
DrugFree Idaho sponsors other parenting and youth education classes like Parent Project and Parents and Youth against Substance Abuse. All of their classes are free to attend. DrugFree Idaho is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a drug-free culture within our schools, workplaces and communities.
“We have a ‘dual-personality’ of sorts: on the one hand, we are a third party administrator of drug-free workplace programs for businesses of all shapes and sizes throughout the state of Idaho,” Executive Director for DrugFree Idaho Marianne King said. “On the other hand, we are a substance abuse prevention education organization.”
The dual personality allows the organization to educate parents in the workplace and youth in the schools about the risks and dangers of substance abuse. Its classes are said to have huge success rates, and are recommended to anyone having any kind of family crisis. There are plenty of spots available for the class and anyone interested is encouraged to register. To register contact Wellness Services at 426-5686.
SONIA TREVIZO
News Writer