YSD Drug And Alcohol Counselor Makes A Difference

Just months after being hired, the new drug and alcohol counselor for the Yankton School District (YSD) has already made significant impacts.

Tiffany Kashas, who was hired as the counselor by Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health Service (LCBHS), came to Yankton from the University of South Dakota (USD) where she had served as coordinator of prevention services and a staff counselor for about four years.

Her job at USD focused on prevention-related activities, along with doing some chemical dependency assessments.

Officials at YSD hope Kashas will help curb drug and alcohol use in the school district which increased substantially last year.

Kashas has been available from day one of school as a resource person for our students and parents, said Yankton High School (YHS) principal Dr. Wayne Kindle. I know our students and parents appreciate having a valuable resource like her at our school. She is available for us to use at any time if the need arises.

Some components of the new drug and alcohol prevention program at YSD includes designing alcohol, drug and tobacco curriculum aimed at helping students resist pressures to use substances and correcting misperceptions about them; a parent program that includes parental education and informational meetings; individual and group counseling; and school-wide activities and promotional materials to increase the perception of the harm of substance abuse.

Some of the goals of the program are to build a rapport with students, staff, parents and the community, Kashas said. We also hope to increase awareness about drugs and alcohol and how they affect us as humans.

She added that students appear to be responding well to the prevention education series curriculum through great discussions and the learning they have done.

Funding for the counselor came from the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Block Grant, which runs year to year. However, officials are optimistic that the funding will be available for years to come.

The counselor has been working at YHS and YMS with the current drug and alcohol policies in place at the schools, said Dr. Tom Stanage, CEO of Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health. This has been a very positive process for Lewis and Clark and YSD. We need to see more of these kinds of things in the community.

Originally posted here:
YSD Drug And Alcohol Counselor Makes A Difference