Working for VARSA at the middle school level alongside health teacher Carrie Hatfield, I am tasked with teaching a unit on substance use prevention to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students

Depending on your age, your early education around this topic may have been the DARE program, just say “NO”, or a wrecked car showing the horrors of drinking and driving. Research has found that none of those approaches really work.

VARSA uses science and evidence-based curriculum to teach this topic. At the middle school level, we are mostly focused on prevention; for high school students, we are focused on both prevention and harm reduction.

We want to counter information found from random online searches by providing websites and resources that are science-based. We also look at community norms — which means that most students of middle school age are not using substances. For example, statewide, less than 1% of 6th graders report vaping, smoking, or drinking. By 8th grade, this goes up to around 6%. Said another way, 99% of 6th graders are not using substances and 94% of 8th graders are not using substances.

We look at the deceptive practices of companies and teach students ways to take action to make their community, Vashon, a better place to grow up. To this end, the 8th graders do a final project of creating their dream community center on Vashon and the 7th graders create prevention ads that are positive and scientific.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we find it impossible to look at substance prevention without taking into consideration mental health. McMurray has a robust Sources of Strength club where students create and execute campaigns around topics such as bullying prevention, trusted adults, handling stress, health, and other topics.

We also offer free Youth Mental Health First Aid classes for adults who work or interact with youth — coaches, teachers, parents, grandparents, neighbors, community members are all welcome to take this class.

We have an upcoming class from 3:30 – 8:30 p.m. on October 22. This class will help you feel confident in knowing what steps to take when a teenager is having a mental health challenge. Please e-mail info@varsanetwork.org to sign up or get more information on the skills you will learn in this class.

Peggy Rubens-Ellis, M.Ed., is a VARSA middle school Student and Family Support Specialist and a Youth and Teen Mental Health First Aid teacher.