Recovery High School Launch
Tax deductible
www.emeraldschool.org
HELP US OPEN THE FIRST RECOVERY HIGH SCHOOL IN THE CAROLINAS - January 2019
- EDUCATING AND SUPPORTING TEENS STRUGGLING WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER
Any donation large or small will help in providing TEACHER SALARY, TECHNOLOGY TO EVERY STUDENT, AND FUNDING FOR OUR ALTERNATIVE PEER GROUP.
We are ordinary people, working to do extraordinary things in the Charlotte community. Addiction has impacted us all in some form or fashion, and we can't sit still any longer and complain about the problem, so we decided to create a resource. We learned about Recovery High Schools through the film Generation Found back in 2016 and it struck a chord, deep within all of us. We realized that this resource can be a GAMECHANGER in a community that has been seeking tirelessly for a place to start, a place to provide support for adolescents, and a way to become more proactive through prevention and education. NSDUH reports that more than 1.3 million teens suffered from a substance use disorder, or 1 in every 12 adolescents in 2014. We know that this has impacted our adolescents even more in 2018 since we are losing 174 Americans everyday to an overdose, according to the CDC. Our teens are under served and need our support NOW!
A school is a small community that typically is a reflection of its surroundings. It has the power to model faith, hope, and love through our children who have the power to positively change our hearts and our city. This can be done by placing the cream of the crop educators, the best recovery support specialists, strong community leaders, and families that believe in our mission all in the same place. With this recipe in effect, we are confident that we will be able to maintain & sustain a successful Recovery High School in North Carolina.
Recovery High Schools have been in existence since the 1980's and are now gaining a lot of support in many states since the release of the film Generation Found. Recovery High Schools are working because of the peer to peer support the students can receive that they wouldn't receive in a traditional high school. When teens come out of treatment, they are 70% more likely to relapse than if they were to enter into a Recovery High School where the chance of relapse drops to 30%. Recovery High Schools do not lower their educational standards but in many cases, increase those standards, contributing to a meaningful sense of accomplishment and actualization of potential.
If you think about any tough time that you have been through, the only people that truly understand are people who are going through the same situation or have been through it already. Those are the people that fight right along side you and help you to overcome. We saw this first hand when we visited Archway Academy(Houston, TX) this past March. There is tremendous power in peer to peer support and sharing your story. There is also amazing growth in community service work, and a family centered approach that can strengthen the community as a whole.
We have learned that Recovery High Schools are only as effective as their Alternative Peer Groups. An Alternative Peer Group (APG) is a community-based, family-centered, professionally staffed, positive peer support program that offers prosocial activities, counseling, and case-management for people who struggle with substance use or self-destructive behaviors. APGs are a much better fit for the adolescent who struggles with substance use and co-occurring disorders because the main focus is to offer and shape a new peer group that utilizes positive peer pressure to stay sober. In addition, APGs focus on making sobriety more fun by organizing and staffing sober social functions throughout the week, weekends, school breaks, and summers.
Statistics on APGs: A 2011 study evaluated the perceived attachment to parents of 114 adolescents enrolled in an APG compared with 127 students from a local high school. Results from this study suggest that adolescents enrolled in an APG perceive healthier attachment to and experience improved communication and trust with their parents compared with control group participants. Parents of adolescents reported that the program helped improve their relationships with their children and other family members. In addition, these parents reported that the programs taught them how to set effective boundaries and support their adolescents in recovery (Rochat et al., 2011).
Another study found that APG participants described their APG as a place where they found a positive peer group, felt accepted and learned new ways of coping with problems without using drugs or alcohol (Nelson et al, 2015).
We have a goal to open our doors to our first group of students in January of 2019. In order to make this possible, we need your help. We need our Charlotte community and neighboring counties to come together and help us make this resource a reality. We are seeking a space that can provide 3 to 4 small sized classrooms (holds 10 students), 1-2 small offices for our educators and recovery support staff, and $1,500,000 over 3 years ($500,000 annually), in order to open the doors and keep them open to allow for growth, sustained recovery, and the growing need.
We know that the Emerald School of Excellence will create a movement, in our state and neighboring states to open a Recovery High School in every single county. Join this tribe, and find some way to give to this project.
To learn more about us please visit our website at www.emeraldschool.org and contact our President & Founder Mary Ferreri at [email redacted]
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Facebook- @emeraldrecoveryhs
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Twitter- @ese_Recovery
LinkedIn- Emerald School of Excellence
Organizer
Mary Ferreri
Organizer
Charlotte, NC
Emerald School of Excellence Inc
Beneficiary