The Botvin LifeSkills Training (Botvin) program, fosters youth development by teaching personal coping skills, general social skills, and skills for resisting pressures to smoke, drink, use drugs, and engage in other risky behaviors. Through the Botvin program, students learn not only how to resist pressures to smoke, drink, and use drugs, they also learn important life skills such as how to make informed decisions and solve problems, how to manage stress and anxiety, and how to communicate clearly. The combination of drug resistance skills and life skills has proven to be a powerful formula for preventing drug use and even violence.
DID YOU KNOW?
Botvin LifeSkills Training was first introduced to area students during the 2011-2012 school year at various schools. Initially the program was taught to 160 students. Currently, with strategic focus and funding by the United Way of the Laurel Highlands, Twin Lakes Center, County SCA’s, Cambria County Drug Coalition, Somerset Drug Free Communities, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and University of Colorado, Botvin is being taught to approximately 7,500 of the 11,600 eligible students (65%), and is now in all 24/24 School Districts in Cambria & Somerset Counties.
HOW IS BOTVIN MAKING AN IMPACT?
According to the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), significant decreases have been measured in the top 3 critical areas where abuse is most prevalent—Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana (both 30-Day & Lifetime usage). The completion of the 2015-2016 school year marked the first cohort of 8th grade students who have successfully completed 3 consecutive years of Botvin LifeSkills Training.
View our Botvin Results (5 Year) Implementation Data!