Fatima junior Heidi Struemph and Linn sophomore Peyton Stockman recently took part in an Osage County Anti-Drug Community Action Team-sponsored (OC-ADCAT) Teen Institute (TI) hosted by PreventEd at Camp Wyman in Eureka from Nov. 21-24.

Osage County Anti-Drug Community Action Team-sponsored (OC-ADCAT) Executive Director Lorie Winslow and Education/Project Coordinator Jill Schaefer drove the teens to the event and picked them up upon its completion.

“This seminar equips high school students to prevent substance misuse among their peers,” said Winslow. “The teens participated in discussions, team building activities, and workshops focused on prevention, leadership, peer pressure, mental health, and building resilience.”

Schaefer added, “We are incredibly proud of Heidi and Peyton for representing Osage County. Not only did this experience equip them with knowledge, but they also gained tools to be leaders in their schools and our community. Both girls were excited to share all they learned and motivated to bring back ideas to start in their high schools.”

Both said the point of the Teen Institute was to build what Struemph and Stockman could do in their respective high schools. Stockman is in OC-ADCAT’s Teen Mental Health First Aid class, and Struemph plans to partake in Winslow’s Too Good For Drugs class next semester. “The training is for them to bring this knowledge back to their high schools and try to implement programs and activities for their student body, so we send out the information to all the counselors, who spread the word at the schools, and we talked about it in our Teen Mental Health First Aid classes,” said Schaefer, adding she respects the teens’ decision to participate and their commitment. “They had to be there four days over a weekend and during deer season for a lot of these Osage County youths, so it was big that they signed up, and we were very excited to have them.”

Winslow agreed, noting that organizers were surprised teens from Osage County were in attendance. “We also take junior high students to the Red Ribbon tour, and this is the same group that sponsors that, so they knew us,” she said. “We usually come to their events because we don’t have anything locally like this for our kids. It was a great experience for the girls, especially to meet people they didn’t know with different experiences. There was a lot of diversity among the 50 kids, and it was an experience that we couldn’t have replicated here. It was an actual camp, with cabins, and it was neat for them to get to do it.”

Winslow and Schaefer wanted to stay for the camp, but no adults were allowed.

“They want the kids to be able to break out themselves,” said Winslow.

Because Osage County isn’t the most diverse place, being in a group with so much diversity was beneficial for the teens. “Some teenagers were addicted to vaping there, and they were trying to get off of that,” said Schaefer. “That opened the girls’ eyes a little bit to see how bad their addiction was, and the girls didn’t realize you can be that addicted to vaping. The girls felt a strong camaraderie when they finished and wanted to go back and be interns. Next year, they could go and be leaders at the camp, and we could take other students.”

According to Prevent Ed, Teen Institute provides up-to-date information regarding the consequences of alcohol and other drug use and misuse, develops an understanding of prevention, teaches leadership and programming strategies, and motivates participants to implement and/or enhance prevention programs in their schools and communities.

Struemph said Teen Institute was an incredible experience and lived up to its online billing. “I got to learn not only about drugs and the effects they have on teens but also how to be a leader and help my peers in my community make better decisions,” she said. “My favorite part of TI was meeting in small groups because we could have more in-depth conversations, and I felt as if I had a close connection with those in my group. I also got to come up with several ideas and projects to bring back to my school and community to help decline substance use in Osage County. Overall, at TI, I got to meet lots of new people, advance my knowledge on substance abuse and the effects it has on teens, and get motivated to help my peers in my community.”

Stockton also called it a great experience. “I liked it,” she said. “I had a lot of fun and met peers that were easy to connect with, and we all learned together. It will help me because I learned about alcohol and other drugs, and I think that information can be helpful for my future.”

Schaefer noted that several instructors told her and Winslow how amazing Struemph and Stockman were at the conference. “They became leaders,” she added. “It was awesome that we had all these people come up to us and tell us how amazing these girls were, which we knew. We were impressed the minute we met Heidi, and we’ve known Peyton for a while. They’re both great kids.”

On the two-hour drive home, Struemph and Stockman shared their experiences with Schaefer and Winslow. “They were very excited about what they learned and the things they hope to try in their schools,” said Winslow.

Teen Institute was Missouri’s first youth substance-use prevention initiative, debuting alongside Prevent Ed’s in-school prevention programming in 1980. It remains the longest-running youth leadership program through Prevent Ed. Between 80 and 100 high school leaders who seek to become a voice for substance use prevention and forces for positive change attend TI’s four-day, three-night retreat every year for an immersive and life-changing experience.

Activities and workshops enable students to develop personal resiliency, leadership, and peer engagement skills, gain science-based knowledge regarding substance misuse and substance use disorder, and strengthen fact-based perceptions of the harms of teenage substance use and their confidence as peer leaders for prevention.

TI also emphasizes fostering a space conducive to the development of relationships with diverse peers from all over the region. “We include structured social activities where participants continue to hone their team-building skills,” Prevent Ed noted on its website. “These sessions demonstrate and reinforce the fact that having fun does not need to revolve around the use of alcohol and drugs. Students leave TI prepared and empowered to be positive influences on their peers, their families, and their communities.”

Teen Institute didn’t cost much, but a grant through the Drug-Free Communities and Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of the 2016 Local Drug Crisis Program paid for the registration fee.

OC-ADCAT is set to receive $125,000 for five years to continue its efforts to educate youth on the dangers of drug use. Currently, students are selected throughout the year to receive monthly recognition for their efforts to live drug-free, but Winslow wants to do more.

“We’d like to honor all drug-free seniors and have a program that works more with them,” she said. “That’s what we’re looking at for next year because there are a lot of kids doing the right thing, and we don’t tout that. And I think kids see one child vaping, and they’re like, ‘Well, everybody’s vaping.’ It’s kind of like when you see a red car, then you see all the red cars. They’re thinking about vaping the same way. They’re not, and our numbers are showing that students are listening. We’re doing really well in our surveys, but we have to keep it in the schools, and we have to keep talking because the only way that we’re going to make a difference is if we prevent them from ever using substances at an early age. I’m not saying you can’t have a beer when you’re 21 and, you know, use it in moderation, but there’s no need to drink before 21, and that’s what we are working on with these kids.

“Marijuana is going to be our big problem,” Winslow continued. “It wasn’t when I started this job. I mean, it’s been three years, and when we first started, kids didn’t talk much about marijuana, or if they did, it was very isolated. It’s everywhere now, and it’s going to grow more and more; that’s what we’ve seen just in our school statistics in states that have legalized it.”

She noted that some high schools have indicated marijuana use is a huge problem, and others are starting to see it develop. “We have to let kids know that just because it’s legal and their parents may use it or it’s for medication purposes, it’s not going to help a child, and it’s not going to help someone under who’s under 25 whose brain is still developing; it’s going to hurt their brain. We encourage kids to not even try it because they can get hooked.”

Winslow also noted that marijuana stays in the system for at least 30 days. “People don’t know that, so we’re educating kids and making sure that they know what they’re doing and making sure that they’re being their best selves,” she added. “In the three years we’ve been doing this, we’ve found that mental health is so important, and if your mental health is positive and you’re doing well, your likelihood to use substances is so much lower. Our big push now is to get into all the schools and work on teen Mental Health First Aid, which we’ve done in Linn for the last two years. We hope to be at Fatima, Chamois, and Belle in the spring.”

For more information, visit https://www.ocadcat.org.