Please go to Madison.com and read and comment on the front page article on Horizon High, Dane County's Only Recovery School.
www.madison.com
one can register and comment and show their support,
This is a good way to publicize the one of the only aftercare programs for teens with substance use disorders.
check out www.horizonhs.org for more information
Showing posts with label substance abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label substance abuse. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Speak Out for Alternative Education
Here's what I said on the capital steps, 12:15 Saturday.
Hi, I am Jan Fulwiler, I am a psychologist, and I strongly support alternative education.
I am here to speak our to Horizon High School, Dane County's Only Recovery School
Imagine you are 16 years old, you have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder, you go to 3 weeks of treatment. It is your first day back at your school. All your friends that you used to use with are very glad to see you are back, and welcome you back by offering alcohol and other drugs to you at school. What do you do?
If you don't think this scene is happening everyday in our schools in Dane County you are sadly mistaken. Hazelton did a survey of recoverying teens and found that 97% were offered alcohol and other drugs at school, their very first day back from treatment. No wonder relapse is seen as a normal part of adolescent recovery.
"Sending a teen back to their original high school is like sending an adult alcoholic back to their favorite bar for six ours a day and expecting them to sta sober.
substance abuse disorders are chronic progressive diseases that need continuing care. Like diabetes, you don't just treat it for 3 weeks and expect it to go away. Without aftercare, of course, teens will relapse it is like denying insulin to a diabetic.
I know this from personal experience because I used to work for a wilderness therapy program and treatment boarding schools. We knew if a teen had to return to their original high school they would relapse. It was only a question of time.
Dane County needs to step up tp the plate and take responsibility for helping teens with substance abuses disorders. We have an especiallly poor record. Nationally only 10% of all teens swith this disorder get treatment, in Dane County only 1.5%. And everytime another child dies of an overdose, I think of that Bob Dylan song, blowin in the wind.
"How many deaths will it take till they know that too many people have died?"
This seems so seneless because their is an answer- Recovery Schools.
What are they? Separate learning communities that provide peer support for sobriety, experientia education, counseling and accoutability, randome drug testing to support the teens in their sobriety.
Research shows that these schools work. Relapse rates are much lower and attendence and graduation much higher for students who attend these schools. Many of our students say they never would have completed high school without Horizon. Their parents say these students might not even be still alive.
Horizon was started 5 years ago by parents and treatment professional who were tired of losing kids to overdoses and took action and created a resource that works. In the five years we have been in existence we have helped over 40 families with teens with substance abuse disorders.
Horizon is a the only private, non-profit recovery school in the Midwest. Minnesota has 12 such schools all state supported. Why are we private because 5 years ago it would have been impossible for us to get a charter school in Madison, Wisconsin, and even today we can't find a school district in Dane County that will sponsor a charter school application.
Horizon supporters didn't want to argue, they wanted to save lives, and we have done more than that, we help teens succeed in sobriety, school and life.
Want to know more? Want to help? Know someone who needs our school? Check out our website at www.horizonhs.org or our face book page, Horizon High, Dane County's Only Recovery School, join our cause.
Hi, I am Jan Fulwiler, I am a psychologist, and I strongly support alternative education.
I am here to speak our to Horizon High School, Dane County's Only Recovery School
Imagine you are 16 years old, you have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder, you go to 3 weeks of treatment. It is your first day back at your school. All your friends that you used to use with are very glad to see you are back, and welcome you back by offering alcohol and other drugs to you at school. What do you do?
If you don't think this scene is happening everyday in our schools in Dane County you are sadly mistaken. Hazelton did a survey of recoverying teens and found that 97% were offered alcohol and other drugs at school, their very first day back from treatment. No wonder relapse is seen as a normal part of adolescent recovery.
"Sending a teen back to their original high school is like sending an adult alcoholic back to their favorite bar for six ours a day and expecting them to sta sober.
substance abuse disorders are chronic progressive diseases that need continuing care. Like diabetes, you don't just treat it for 3 weeks and expect it to go away. Without aftercare, of course, teens will relapse it is like denying insulin to a diabetic.
I know this from personal experience because I used to work for a wilderness therapy program and treatment boarding schools. We knew if a teen had to return to their original high school they would relapse. It was only a question of time.
Dane County needs to step up tp the plate and take responsibility for helping teens with substance abuses disorders. We have an especiallly poor record. Nationally only 10% of all teens swith this disorder get treatment, in Dane County only 1.5%. And everytime another child dies of an overdose, I think of that Bob Dylan song, blowin in the wind.
"How many deaths will it take till they know that too many people have died?"
This seems so seneless because their is an answer- Recovery Schools.
What are they? Separate learning communities that provide peer support for sobriety, experientia education, counseling and accoutability, randome drug testing to support the teens in their sobriety.
Research shows that these schools work. Relapse rates are much lower and attendence and graduation much higher for students who attend these schools. Many of our students say they never would have completed high school without Horizon. Their parents say these students might not even be still alive.
Horizon was started 5 years ago by parents and treatment professional who were tired of losing kids to overdoses and took action and created a resource that works. In the five years we have been in existence we have helped over 40 families with teens with substance abuse disorders.
Horizon is a the only private, non-profit recovery school in the Midwest. Minnesota has 12 such schools all state supported. Why are we private because 5 years ago it would have been impossible for us to get a charter school in Madison, Wisconsin, and even today we can't find a school district in Dane County that will sponsor a charter school application.
Horizon supporters didn't want to argue, they wanted to save lives, and we have done more than that, we help teens succeed in sobriety, school and life.
Want to know more? Want to help? Know someone who needs our school? Check out our website at www.horizonhs.org or our face book page, Horizon High, Dane County's Only Recovery School, join our cause.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Horizon Joins Speak Out for Alternative Education this Saturday, Noon on the Square
Horizon High joins Speak Out Saturday in Madison on behalf of alternative education.
Do you care about alternative schooling? Madison-area supporters of alternative programs, including Horizon High School—Dane County’s only recovery school—are voicing their concerns and sharing thoughts on the need for alternatives to traditional schooling. You can join us Saturday May 15 at noon on the steps of the Capitol building downtown and Speak Out. Anyone who wishes to talk to the public about this issue will have an opportunity to do so. Check-in will take place at the State Street corner and the speaker list will start at 11:30. (Please limit your address to 2-5 minutes.) You will receive a t-shirt and number upon signing up.
If you’re concerned about the direction our schools have taken regarding students at risk—Dane County alone has 700-900 dropouts every year—then come and take a stand for non-traditional education. If you believe in experimental education or think different learning styles may call for different teaching environments, we need your voice, too.
What a difference a transition schools can make for students at-promise. We see this every day at Horizon High School. In the five years we have operated we have helped more than 40 students. These students were disenchanted with school and often weren’t attending school and were using alcohol and other drugs. At Horizon High, we’ve seen them become reengaged and succeed.
Dane County Transition School director Judith Reed recently related the story of two sisters with a shared past of abuse who take different paths in life. One receives the option of attending an alternative school for two and a half years; the other, expelled from her district repeatedly, was not given access to an alternative school and continues to struggle. A quote from that story:
“While Sara has learned to grow from trauma, Teresa is being pushed further into a dark, desolate hole…Teresa deserves to learn, grown and become a productive person.”
Want to read the full story? Click here. http://www.dcsc.org/dcts/index.html
The facts are there. Every 26 seconds a student in our nation drops out of school. Events like Saturday’s Speak Out aim to bring awareness to this problem and point toward possible solutions. To RSVP please e-mail www.dctsalternative@gmail.com
Do you care about alternative schooling? Madison-area supporters of alternative programs, including Horizon High School—Dane County’s only recovery school—are voicing their concerns and sharing thoughts on the need for alternatives to traditional schooling. You can join us Saturday May 15 at noon on the steps of the Capitol building downtown and Speak Out. Anyone who wishes to talk to the public about this issue will have an opportunity to do so. Check-in will take place at the State Street corner and the speaker list will start at 11:30. (Please limit your address to 2-5 minutes.) You will receive a t-shirt and number upon signing up.
If you’re concerned about the direction our schools have taken regarding students at risk—Dane County alone has 700-900 dropouts every year—then come and take a stand for non-traditional education. If you believe in experimental education or think different learning styles may call for different teaching environments, we need your voice, too.
What a difference a transition schools can make for students at-promise. We see this every day at Horizon High School. In the five years we have operated we have helped more than 40 students. These students were disenchanted with school and often weren’t attending school and were using alcohol and other drugs. At Horizon High, we’ve seen them become reengaged and succeed.
Dane County Transition School director Judith Reed recently related the story of two sisters with a shared past of abuse who take different paths in life. One receives the option of attending an alternative school for two and a half years; the other, expelled from her district repeatedly, was not given access to an alternative school and continues to struggle. A quote from that story:
“While Sara has learned to grow from trauma, Teresa is being pushed further into a dark, desolate hole…Teresa deserves to learn, grown and become a productive person.”
Want to read the full story? Click here. http://www.dcsc.org/dcts/index.html
The facts are there. Every 26 seconds a student in our nation drops out of school. Events like Saturday’s Speak Out aim to bring awareness to this problem and point toward possible solutions. To RSVP please e-mail www.dctsalternative@gmail.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
What is a Recovery School? Why Does Dane County Need One?
What are recovery schools?
Recovery Schools are separate learning communities that provide education, peer support and support services for teens working to recover from alcohol, other drug abuse and emotional problems.
What makes them unique?
Recovery Schools are separate learning communities that provide education, peer support and support services for teens working to recover from alcohol, other drug abuse and emotional problems.
What makes them unique?
- Personal Relationships teens and the staff build strong personal relationships that motivate these teens to be able to use their strengths and succeed.
- Peer Pressure for sobriety. Students support each other in living life without alcohol and other drugs, and learn to cope successfully with life
- Multi-sensory experiential education. Teaching methods that match their learning styles, leading to academic success. Many who attend say they never would have graduated high school with out this approach.
- Life skills and counseling on how to live happily sober
- Accountability, students agree to random drug tests to support their sobriety
Why Does Dane County Need One?
- 97% of all teens surveyed are offered alcohol and other drugs on their very first day back at school after alcohol and drug treatment.
- Ken Winters who researches alcohol and the adolescent brain says,
"Sending a teen back to their school is like sending an adult alcoholic back to their favorite bar for 6 hours a day and expecting he or she to stay sober! " - Dane County has a terrible record for treating teens with substance abuse problems!
- National average 10% of all teens who need treatment receive it.
- Dane County? 1.5% of all teens who need treatment receive it.
Horizon High School is the only aftercare available for teens with substance abuse problems.
Research shows that recovery schools work!
Teens have fewer relapses, more days of attendance and higher graduation rates.
For more information on Horizon go to http://www.horizonhs.org/
For more information on Recovery Schools go to http://www.recoveryschools.org/
Read an article about why New York City chose to form a recovery school
http://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/resources/inthenews/2009/2009-10-16recoveryschools.php
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