High Risk Youth/Teen Mentor Program

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Because a substance-abusing parent is unable to provide the positive environment needed for a child's growth and development;  the child and the parent both suffer. Children are at much greater risk of abusing substances if parents abuse them.  The High-Risk Youth Parent Aide Program offers supportive services to help families gain the emotional strength, knowledge, and support to cope with the stressors of daily living, thus reducing the chance of resorting to drugs or alcohol. This program offers Parent Aides, who meet with the family in-home to offer emotional support and share information about community resources.  Other High-Risk Youth programs offered free of charge include:

• Community Awareness/Education Programs, which focus on the prevention of alcohol and other drug abuse, which are available for presentation to public schools in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Forrest, Lamar, and Stone counties, Mississippi.  The program provides age-appropriate literature and presentations for elementary students in grades K-3.
  
  
• Through the Teen Mentor Program, volunteer mentors are available for children and adolescents who are identified as "status offenders" due to runaway behaviors and who have a high potential for violence and drug abuse because of stressors in their daily lives.  Mentors assist these youth in overcoming problems with grades, peers, and family relationships.

For more information regarding these programs, please call (228) 868-9586.