How to Drug Proof Your Kids is an internationally-recognized parenting program that equips parents with the tools they need to help steer their children away from the harmful use of drugs or alcohol. For parents who suspect their child is already experimenting or misusing drugs or alcohol, this program provides practical steps for intervention and recovery assistance. It also supplies them with a list of resources and agencies in the community where they can find help and support. Developed by family and drug counselling experts in Australia in the mid-1990s, DPYK has been adapted and implimented in Canada, Britain and New Zealand through Focus on the Family. Since it began, over 20,000 parents have been impacted by this program in Australia alone, and several hundred more have taken the course here in Canada in the last 3 years. How to Drug Proof Your Kids has won the support of parents, educators, health care officals, police, churches and local politicians wherever it has been offered. Read letters of support for DPYK

Session Topics Session 1: Drugs! Just how bad is it? • Canada statistics and overview of the problem • Drug use in the community • The Drug Proof Plan • Steps for change: what parents can give their kids Session 2: Why kids take drugs • Key factors leading to drug and alcohol misuse • Becoming aware of the path to drug misuse • Getting to know your child better • Reflecting on your child’s environment Session 3: How to educate kids to make good choices • Critical strategies for parents • The parents’ action plan • Understanding drugs and drug misuse: essential facts • What influences harmful drug use Session 4: Prevention tools for parents • Parental prevention tools • Parents’ attitudes towards their kids • Identifying drug misuse in your kids and your reactions • Parents’ reactions to drug use Session 5: Learning to intervene and where to get help • The intervention process • Strategies for intervention communication • Helping kids respond to peer pressure • When does a parent need professional help Session 6: A parents guide to handling relapses • Relapse protection plan • Relapse threats and indicators • Surviving relapse as a parent • Motivating others to Drug Proof their kids

Additional Info... Parents can make a significant difference! Extensive research has shown that parents and families can be a vital factor in keeping children from becoming involved with the harmful use of drugs, including alcohol. Better informed parents communicate more effectively, and a knowledge of available resources puts parents in a position to significantly reduce the risks. Easy availability, peer pressure and the perceived ‘excitement’ of drugs is a major concern for today’s parents. There is a wide spectrum of drug use, ranging from abstinence to dependence, and parents need to understand and respond in a way most appropriate to their situation. To simply tell children who are already casual or dependent users to stop using drugs is naïve, as is lecturing young people that “all they have to do is say no”. It’s a much more complex issue and there are psychosocial and health issues that need to be addressed. Program objectives To help parents establish strategies for their families that will prevent drug use and reduce associated harm. To educate and empower parents with the skills and strategies that will influence their children’s choices regarding the harmful use of drugs. To increase parental awareness on current drug use in our society and its related harm. To provide parents with the relevant information on services, support and resources available within their communities. To assist parents in recognizing a continuum of drug use, and to present them with intervention strategies that will reduce drug-related harm to their families. To encourage parents to examine their own beliefs, attitudes and behaviors regarding their own drug use, and how conflicting messages can influence their children’s choices. To provide parents with a sense of community-based support. Is it really possible to drug proof young people? If you mean, will it stop young people from ever using tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs, then the answer is NO! If you mean, will parents be better skilled at influencing their children away from harmful drug use, then the answer is YES! Parents need to understand that all children engage in some risk-taking behavior as part of normal adolescent growth, and this includes stretching the parental boundaries. However, by being informed, and being better able to communicate with their children on the issue of drugs, their children will have greater understanding of the risks involved, and what resources are available to help them. How to Drug Proof Your Kids is about reducing the harmful use of drugs. Is this program religious? This program is not directly or indirectly religious. It has been created by Focus on the Family, a well-known Christian organization. It is based on strong family values, and it is often facilitated by Christian leaders, however, there is no religious content in the course. Participants are free, after the sessions, to ask the facilitator(s) what role faith plays for some families in dealing with drug prevention or recovery, but this is not taught as part of the program in order to make it accessible to as many people as possible.