Johnstown, PA (Jan. 30, 2017) – One way to combat the region’s opioid/heroin epidemic is to reduce the demand for those drugs. Understanding the connection between misuse of prescription pain pills and its direct path to heroin use, addiction and overdose is a core objective of the This is (Not) About Drugs prevention education program. It’s also a primary reason UPMC Health Plan recently awarded The Learning Lamp a $10,000 grant to share that message with middle and high school students throughout Cambria, Somerset and surrounding counties in west central Pennsylvania.
“UPMC Health Plan is proud to support The Learning Lamp’s education initiative. We strongly believe that reaching students with this education message can help prevent future drug misuse and addiction,” said Dr. James Schuster, Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral and Medicaid Services, VP of Behavioral Integration, UPMC Insurance Services Division. “Prevention, intervention and treatment all have important roles in addressing this public health crisis.”
The Learning Lamp piloted This is (Not) About Drugs in October 2016 after a two-year search for a tested, results-driven heroin prevention program—a request of area high school teachers and administrators seeking heroin-specific prevention education for their students. The single, 45-minute introductory lesson comes from a non-profit organization in the state of Indiana called Overdose Lifeline. The founder, a health educator by trade, lost her 20 year old son to a heroin overdose in 2014 and set out to create an impactful, science-based prevention education program that would prevent other young people from going down that road.
It is critical that we help young people change their attitudes and behaviors about opioids,” explained Justin Phillips, founder and executive director of Overdose Lifeline, Inc. “Heroin use has more doubled among young adults ages 18–25 in the past decade. The CDC has recommended that we ‘address the strongest risk factor for heroin addiction: addiction to prescription opioid painkillers.’ It is imperative for Overdose Lifeline to work with providers across the country such as The Learning Lamp to replicate the opioid prevention program.”
Central to This is (Not) About Drugs is a 12-minute peer-to-peer video that features young people in recovery from heroin addiction and who have had family members addicted sharing their personal experiences. The companion PowerPoint and discussion that follows reinforces key points about opioid addiction and the brain, risk of overdose, alternatives to using drugs and the importance of seeking help to save a life.
Pre/post-program surveys demonstrate substantial gains in knowledge. For example, on average, students showed a 51% point increase in knowledge that “Prescription pain pills such as Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Vicodin are the same type of drug as heroin.” Prior to the program only 12% of students clearly understood that abusing prescription narcotics is as dangerous as using heroin. Additionally, 88% of students agreed that they were “less likely to abuse prescription pain meds or heroin” as a result of the program.
To date, The Learning Lamp has delivered This is (Not) About Drugs to 1,606 students in grades 7-12 in Cambria, Somerset and Westmoreland counties. Schools from Blair and Bedford counties have requested the program and scheduling is underway.
The Learning Lamp is a leading provider of evidence-based and outcomes-driven drug, alcohol and gambling prevention programming in the Cambria-Somerset region. In the 2015-16 school year, prevention specialists reached 4,074 students in grades 3-12 with programs that included: Too Good for Drugs (Elementary); Too Much to Lose (Elementary, Middle School, High School); Botvin’s LifeSkills Training Program (Middle School); and Alcohol Literacy Challenge (High School). New in 2016-17, the agency added This is (Not) About Drugs (Middle and High School) and Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14 to its list of program offerings.
For more information about The Learning Lamp’s prevention programs, visit thelearninglamp.org or call Val at 814-262-0732 ext. 292.
The Learning Lamp is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage all children in the support they need to succeed. We deliver high quality programs that are affordable and accessible to families of all income levels. The Learning Lamp served 30,711 children from 57 school districts and 53 non-public and private schools and other organizations in 17 Pennsylvania counties and one county in Maryland in 2015.
Our programs include: one-to-one tutoring; before/after school programs; portable classrooms aimed at building math and science skills; alternative education programs for at-risk students; evidence-based prevention programs; online learning and credit recovery; SAT preparation; educationally-focused child care; literacy-based preschool programs; and grant writing and project consulting for schools.
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