Seneca Valley receives LifeSkills Training program grant

Personal self-management skills, general social skills and drug resistance skills are the objectives of an evidence-based substance and violence prevention program designed to be implemented into Seneca Valley Middle School’s (SVMS) seventh-grade health curriculum beginning this fall. The LifeSkills Training (LST) program grant was approved in 2016 and provided training and technical assistance, as well as curriculum materials for the program. LST incorporates age-appropriate and culturally relevant information, facilitated discussion, and structured activities in 30 class sessions over a three-year period. Additionally, LST effectively helps reduce violence and other high-risk behaviors and also provides students with personal self-management skills, general social skills and drug resistance skills. “We are very excited and optimistic about the implementation of this program into our seventh-grade health curriculum,” said SVMS Principal Robert Ceh. “While these are topics that have been covered prior to this program, this evidence-based program will work to change the thought process and teach the skills necessary to have the impact we are looking for beyond the classroom. This program is not about teaching information, but by using a three-year implementation process, students will exit the program thinking and acting differently when it comes to engaging in health risk and negative behaviors.” LST was developed by Dr. Gilbert J. Botvin, professor of public health and psychiatry and director of Cornell University’s Institute for Prevention Research.