Take Action in Secondary Schools
SECTION I:
Understanding Take Action in Secondary Schools
Comprehensive School Health
When students enter secondary school, they face additional social, emotional, and educational challenges. At the same time, they may be exposed to greater availability of illegal substances and alcohol, people who abuse substances, and social activities involving substance use.These challenges can increase the risk that they will abuse alcohol, tobacco, and other substances
In Health Canada's A Compendium of Best Practices, the research indicates that if students are to make healthy lifestyle choices, then substance use and abuse programs should be continuous from Kindergarten through graduation. Since schools have a unique opportunity to educate children on an ongoing basis, it is imperative for students to receive some substance use and abuse education at each grade level.
Building a foundation in the early years gives students a head start in developing preventative skills that can last a lifetime. The activities in this type of program encourage children to have fun while they develop healthy habits in their early years. Activities at the secondary school level need to be consistent with the changing developmental needs of the older student.
A comprehensive school health approach holds that healthy instruction should be coordinated with school health services within a healthful school and community environment.
A number of national organizations work together to promote a comprehensive approach to school based and school-linked health promotion. For more information on comprehensive school health (CHS) and Health Promoting Schools (HPS) please visit www.SafeHealthySchools.org
Comprehensive school health (CSH) is an approach to school-based health promotion that consists of four components:
- Instruction
- Support Services
- Social Support
- Healthy Physical Environment
The school is an ideal site for prevention initiatives and as a result, orchestrated substance abuse prevention in schools might constitute society's most cost-effective prevention strategy.
The development of strong partnerships between the school and community determines the effectiveness of school based health promotion programs. The comprehensive approach's broad scope and strong association with community and health agencies ensure that the school's health promotion programs are consistent and well maintained over the long term.
Health education is more than simply informing young people about disease prevention. It also seeks to empower youth to make healthy lifestyle choices. Health-related behaviour is the most significant contributor to personal health in Canada.
"School programs must empower children, as well as the communities within which they live to alter not only their health-related behaviours, but also the environments that influence them." (Health Canada's A Compendium of Best Practices, p.81).
In recognition of shared responsibility, the resource will combine each of the four elements of the comprehensive school health approach including instruction, support services, social support, and a healthy environment. This approach to school-based health promotion involves a variety of programs, activities, and services that take place in schools and their surrounding communities. The elements have been used to form what is referred to as the four Action Areas of the resource.
Action Areas:
The approach and methods used for addressing substance use and abuse are just as important as the content. Each of the four Action Areas of Take Action in Secondary Schools provides a variety of different ways for schools to learn about and address substance use and abuse.
These Action Areas are identified as:
- Education and Instruction
- Policies and Guidelines
- Communicating about Substance Use Prevention
- Programs and Services in Your School Community
Use of this resource:
The readiness and capacity for implementation of a comprehensive strategy addressing substance use and abuse varies greatly between schools across the province. Consistent with this, Take Action in Secondary Schools has been designed to support schools in developing an approach that is unique to the needs of their setting.
It is understood that schools will access the resource to implement each of the four Action Areas in an order based on their own priorities. Over time it is hoped that schools will address all four Action Areas.
School staff, parents and students need to be informed and aware of relevant substance use issues and topics in order to effectively address school health. We recommend that you initially review the Understanding Substance Use and Abuse in the School Community section before addressing the Action Areas to gain this understanding. Additional tools, resources, and references can be explored to provide further background.
