Friendly PEERsuasion

Friendly PEERsuasion provides girls with the tools and the reasons to resist substances rather than focussing on the facts and figures about the substances themselves. This strategy helps make it a flexible programme that can be adjusted to meet the needs of a variety of communities. In general, the after-school programme is geared toward girls ages 11-14 living in urban, suburban, and rural areas all over the United States. The sessions are held in public schools, community-based organisation centres, private facilities, or recreation centres. As of this writing, Girls Inc. is working in 35 states, and may soon be offered in new affiliates in Canada.

The first phase of the programme consists of 15 1-hour-long sessions facilitated by a trained adult facilitator. (Implementation training is offered at least once a year for new facilitators.) These sessions involve hands-on, interactive activities such as games, group discussions, and role-plays. This "learning phase" begins by addressing topics such as communication, stress, and peer and media pressures before moving on to sessions on tobacco, alcohol, prescription, over-the-counter, and illicit drugs. The strategy here involves using interpersonal, peer-based interaction to help students: learn about the short- and long-term effects of substance abuse; experience healthy ways to manage stress; learn to recognise media and peer pressures to use drugs; and practice skills for making responsible decisions about drug use and prepare to become peer leaders. After completing this core curriculum, participants are certified as PEERsuaders.

The second ("teaching") phase gives girls the opportunity to plan and deliver short sessions to younger children on the same topics they learned about in the earlier phase. Small teams of PEERsuaders plan and implement 8 to 10 half-hour sessions of substance abuse prevention activities for PEERsuade-MEs (children ages 6 through 10). Working with adult leaders, PEERsuaders draw on skills and activities introduced in the first phase and their own experiences and creativity to present factual information and to model and practice skills, attitudes, and behaviours related to substance abuse prevention. This is a much less structured piece of the curriculum that serves to reinforce what was learned in the earlier phase.

Substance Abuse, Girls.

Girls Inc. affiliates face a variety of community concerns that depend on the prevalence of various drugs in that particular community. For example, more rural sites confront more methamphetamine usage; it can be cooked on the spot and doesn't rely on drug traffic like cocaine use would. Tobacco and alcohol use, however, is pervasive in most USA communities.

Rather than selling curricula, Girls Inc. licenses its materials to approved organisations for a specified (and renewable) amount of time.

Friendly PEERsuasion serves approximately 525,000 young women and children annually.