A lot of people, have a feeling that drug education and substance use prevention is about drugs and drug facts, and really that’s a small part of it. What we want to try to do is get more at those root preventative issues. And so there’s what we call protective factors, things that if we enhance them and build them up, they’re gonna put people at a lower likelihood of developing drug use problems. Some of the strongest protective factors can be summed up in the ABCs (of substance use education), Autonomy, Belonging and Competence.
So youth that have a foundation in those three areas are going to be way ahead of the game in terms of avoiding mental health and substance use issues.
— Art Steinmann, podcast guest "Promoting Student Well-being: the ABCs of Substance Use Education"
.png?1675190883713)
