Against the tide Against the tide (June 14, 2002)

CHAC, formed to battle drugs and alcohol, works with schools, city, police CHAC, formed to battle drugs and alcohol, works with schools, city, police (June 14, 2002)

By Bill D'Agostino

The river of social pressure that leads kids to use drugs is rough and deep. All Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) can do, according to Drug Counselor Jack McCrea, is toss out lifejackets and hope kids grab hold. McCrea admitted he has a pretty skewed-toward-the-negative view of kids and drug use. Still, he noted that some of the things he sees and hears about on a regular basis are scary: 12-year-olds experimenting with designer drugs, boys date-raping girls after giving them a pill, and schools where narcotics are easier to find than pencils. "The war on drugs is not working," McCrea stated matter-of-factly. "We've got to stop the demand." In 1973, back before Santa Clara County was known as Silicon Valley and Mountain View was still covered with orchards, Mountain View and Los Altos parents and school administrators formed CHAC to battle the rising tide of drug and alcohol use among school-aged kids. Today, CHAC's mission is to "provide substance abuse prevention, education, intervention and related counseling services to children and their families in the schools and communities of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills." In other words, they want to get kids who have a habit to kick it, and to get those who don't use to never try. Schoolchildren, according to Executive Director Monique Kane. "don't have the emotional maturity" to even experiment with narcotics or drink alcohol. CHAC utilizes a multi-tiered approach to tackling drugs and alcohol -- sometimes the programs deals with the issue directly with addicted teenagers, and sometimes they help build elementary students' self-esteem, hoping the ripple effect will keep them from using in the future. The program most directly drug related is "New Outlooks," full-day school substitute for high school students who are already addicted to drugs (see sidebar). Another CHAC program, Restorative Justice Program (RJP), works with the County of Santa Clara's Probation Department to provide an alternative for kids who get in trouble with the law. Students who get arrested for small crimes _ drug possession, theft _ can choose to avoid court by agreeing to enter the program, which aims to make them accountable for their crimes while also allowing them to feel a stronger connection with their community. Kids in RJP go to a hearing where they tell a board of citizens about their crime and how it affected their lives. Often, it's the first time they've actually told the story and considered who they hurt and how it affected them, counselors noted. The youth then agrees to create a contract with the board, agreeing to do some community service. The service, though, is tailored to the individual, based on their individual interests, rather than something imposed upon them without their input. After the hearing, the youths regularly meet with counselors to make sure they fulfill their service obligations. Youth Intervention Counselor Mary Hammes said that either the board member, the counselors or the people with whom they work to do their community service usually become mentors to the troubled kids. "Often, it's the first time they're starting to make positive relationships with adults," Hammes said. Officials with RJP claim that 95 percent of the kids who go through their program do not commit any more crimes. If RJP is the most hard-nosed of CHAC's programs, Just for Kids is by necessity (its clients are the youngest) the most touchy-feely. "What kind of tree are you?" asked Program Assistant Charlotte Davis on a recent afternoon. While munching on their lunch, the six second graders offered up creative answers like "a chocolate tree" or "a rainbow tree." The goal of that week's program was to teach kids about diversity and self-esteem, Davis pointed out. Other weeks (the lunchtime program is eight weeks long) focus on teaching kids in the second and third grade the difference between prescription drugs and narcotics and how to successfully handle negative emotions. The program, according to Director Betty Mackey, "teaches children they don't have control over other people's behavior but they have control over their own choices."