Too Good For Drugs - Hero

Too Good For Drugs

Materials for the Youth Prevention Education program delivered to 5th graders at Braidwood Elementary School (classroom time once a week during P.E. for 10 weeks, or 11 weeks in the 2017-2018 school year with an additional lesson on opioids) and to 6th graders at Reed Custer Middle School (once a week for 10 weeks during Character Ed class or 11 weeks in the 2017-2018 school year with an additional lesson on opioids) are supplied by the BAHCC through grant funding received from The Illinois Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) and SAMHSA.

Too Good For Drugs (Mendez Foundation) is a program that is included in SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP):

Too Good for Drugs (TGFD) for elementary school students is a school-based drug prevention program designed to reduce students’ intention to use alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs, while promoting prosocial attitudes, skills, and behaviors. The program seeks to build the self-confidence of students so they are better able to make healthy choices and achieve success. Although there are different objectives across grade levels, promoting positive, prosocial attitudes, and fostering healthy relationships is a running theme throughout the program’s curriculum. Overall, TGFD seeks to develop positive peer norms; appropriate attitudes toward alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use; personal and interpersonal skills relating to alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use; knowledge of the negative consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use; and finally the knowledge of the benefits of living a drug-free lifestyle.

Program Theory

The TGFD program uses the social influence model and the cognitive-behavioral model as its framework for the prevention program. In developing the program, the Mendez Foundation sought to develop the skills of students so that they are better able to resist peer pressure and make responsible, healthy decisions. TGFD uses a developmentally appropriate curriculum that specifically concentrates on five social and emotional learning skills that have been shown to promote healthy development and academic success:

  1. Goal setting
  2. Decision making
  3. Bonding with pro-social others
  4. Identifying and managing emotions
  5. Communicating effectively with others

Program Components

As a long-term prevention program, the TGFD curriculum builds on the curriculum in the previous grade level, requiring students to develop skills and use these skills year after year. At each grade level the TGFD program consists of:

  1. Ten core curriculum lessons, including an interactive workbook delivered by trained teachers/TGFD instructors
  2. A “Looking for More” component at the end of each lesson that includes suggestions for additional readings, videotapes, and activities to further reinforce the skills learned during the lesson
  3. Parental involvement, including newsletters and homework assignments for families
  4. Community inclusion
  5. A Staff Development Curriculum that is provided to educators

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