On Thursday, March 30, The Altoona Hospital Behavioral Health Center will offer a Parent Drug and Alcohol Education seminar in the LGI Room of the Tyrone Area Elementary School.
The seminar is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., and will be free to interested parents and the public. Childcare and refreshments will be provided by the school district.
Anyone who wishes to attend, but needs child care, should contact TAHS SAP Coordinator Rhonda Hocutt at 684-4240, ext. 3721, by Friday, March 26. Child care will be provided by two or three high school student volunteers from one of the service organizations.
This educational seminar is being offered through the Student Assistance Program of the Tyrone Area School District. It will be facilitated by Leslie Turner, licensed social worker and Student Assistance drug and alcohol counselor at the Altoona Hospital and Anthony Pater. Both Turner and Pater work in drug and alcohol prevention/intervention services with Blair County adolescents.
Both facilitators of the program will provide parents with the opportunity to learn more about: specific drugs available to teens today, how teens obtain these drugs, the dangers and risks associated with these drugs, why teens use drugs, signs and symptoms that children might be using drugs/alcohol, and where to go for help if needed.
Turner and Pater will discuss current trends they are seeing in regards to adolescent drug use through their Student Assistance positions.
“We will focus on when kids begin to use, why kids begin to use, effects of drug and alcohol use on their development, what drugs are being used in this area and how kids are getting these drugs,” said Turner.
The team will be providing statistics on age of first use, adolescent drug use over a twelve month period, and teen reports of how easy it is to obtain illegal and legal drugs.
Besides Tyrone, these seminars are scheduled at other school districts as well, including: Central High School, Bellwood Antis High School, Altoona Area High School and Claysburg High School.
“It is our hope to have good turnouts at all of these locations, but an exact number is hard to estimate. A good turnout for Tyrone would be between 50 (to) 100 people, as the seminar is open to the entire community,” added Turner.
One of the main goals of the seminar is to make parents and community members aware of the current drug epidemic in the area.
“Although this seminar is specifically aimed at parents, it is open to the entire community,” said Turner. “We feel it is so important to see what is happening to teens today in order to best help them. We invite all community members to come and join us for this seminar.”
Another goal is to help families who are dealing with this situation to obtain the proper assistance. Also, a main purpose is to decrease the number of adolescents who battle drug and alcohol addiction.
“The goal of this seminar is to educate parents on what teens are using today and where parents can get help if needed. Drug use in the Blair County area has increased rapidly over the past few years, and we are seeing younger and younger kids with very serious drug problems,” explained Turner.
“I am working with kids as young as 12-years-old who are addicted to drugs and struggling with school, family members, the law and life in general. It takes a community to address these concerns before even more kids fall to the dangers of drug and alcohol use.”
