Sachem’s Teens as Teachers Class and Club were honored at the 2018 Interfaith Anti-Bias Task Force Annual Spring Convocation and Awards Breakfast at the Suffolk County Legislature building.
Sachem’s Teens as Teachers is a health education substance abuse prevention education initiative taught at Sachem East and North High Schools.
The course and club were developed to proactively address the growing problem of substance use and abuse among our students. It uses the peer education model, which encourages students to work collaboratively to educate their middle school peers on how to stay drug-free and empower them with the skills to make health-enhancing decisions.
The Peer-to-Peer Substance Abuse Education program uses peer educators to serve as advocates, group facilitators, discussion leaders and credible role models for successfully resisting peer pressures.
The skill-based lessons facilitate include goal setting, communication skills, managing emotions and resistance skills. Both peer educators and those they teach are benefited by increased self-esteem and increased knowledge and skills about health and drug-related issues, and develop advocacy and leadership skills.