Youth Prevention Selective (YPS)

These services promote a proactive process to address health and wellness for individuals, families, and communities by enhancing protective factors that increase knowledge, skills, and attitudes for making healthy choices. Selective prevention strategies target subgroups known to be at higher risk for substance use and misuse than the general population. Our services primarily focus on Texas' four youth prevention priorities: underage alcohol use, tobacco and nicotine products, marijuana and other cannabinoids use, and prescription drug misuse. We do discuss other drugs as well!

Our YPS Specialists follow the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) model of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and strengthen prevention efforts and strategies for coordination across multiple levels of impact following the Social Ecological Model.

What all do our YPS Prevention Services entail?

  1. Prevention Education- our a two-way approach to teaching participants important social skills. These skills can include resisting pressure to use drugs, looking at the intent behind advertising, or developing leadership skills or other skills used in making healthy choices. Our trained Prevention Specialists conduct activities via an evidence-based curriculum proven to promote desired outcomes based on effective implementation strategies.
  2. Information Dissemination- increases knowledge and changes attitudes through communications. This method is mainly one-way (i.e., classroom speakers or take home information).
  3. Positive Alternatives & Community-Based Processes- we provide fun, challenging, and structured activities with supervision so people have constructive and healthy ways to enjoy free time and learn skills. These alcohol and drug-free activities are provided with the intent to help people, particularly young people, stay away from situations that encourage use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.
  4. Identification of Problems and Referral to Services- this includes determining when the needs of participant requires additional education or intensive services and strategies outside the scope of the activities Hub City Outreach Center provides and properly refer participants who present a need for individualized services outside the scope of prevention.

 

Hub City Outreach Center's YPS Team is cross-trained across our two programs.
However, the main curriculum YPS implements is the Curriculum-Based Support Group (CBSG) Program.

 

Curriculum-Based Support Group (CBSG)
-also known as- Youth Connection (YC):

The CBSG® Program is a multi-cultural preventive intervention for selective and indicated populations of children and youth, ages 6-18, whose high-risk situations, attitudes and behaviors place them at elevated risk for substance abuse, delinquency and violence.  The CBSG® Program provides a research-based curriculum of coping, social and substance abuse prevention skills delivered in a highly-structured support group process by a trained, caring group facilitator.

  • Empirical studies [found at rainbowdays.org] show that this program reduces anti-social attitudes and rebellious behavior, increases anti-drug-use attitudes and intentions, reduces early substance use/experimentation, and increases coping and social skills.
  • This program can be implemented in a variety of settings, including schools, after-school programs, recreation centers, homeless shelters, group homes, outreach programs, churches, alternative schools, and juvenile detention centers.
  • Typically, there are 10-12 sessions for selective populations, plus pre/post evaluation survey sessions.
  • Session duration is the same period of time as one regular school class period.
  • Sessions are conducted either weekly or bi-weekly depending on the setting.
  • All group sessions are held in private, child-appropriate settings.
  • Group rules provide for member confidentiality.