One Small Community Tackles Addiction/Student March - Part 1
I read in the Dauphin Herald that the Alcoholism Foundation of Manitoba had opened up an office. Before it was glad the Addiction Foundation of Manitoba, it was called the Alcoholism Foundation. A sign of the times. Decades ago, that was the only substance we were focusing on. When we know better, we do better.
The article in the paper indicated that the field office would have a Manager and an Outreach Worker. I remember wondering what an Outreach Worker would do. Well, it turns out, she did tons. She worked with Probation to do programs and groups, she worked in schools doing suicide prevention, she did education for employers, and tons of other things. She started a peer support group in high school called STOP. Students Triumph Over Problems. Remember, I'm old so this was something revolutionary. A place for high school students to go and talk - without judgment. It was a big deal.
I became involved in an amazing program called Student Match. It was developed jointly by a high school guidance counselor and AFM. It was basically modeled after Big Brother/Big Sister program. A high school student (called a Senior Match) would be matched with a student in elementary school (called the Junior Match). The requirements were rigorous. Senior matches had to attend two weekend retreats, they had to spend so many hours with their match, they had to meet with their faculty adviser regularly, they had to keep a log book, and they had to attend group monthly meetings. It really was a big commitment. It had a big reward. At the successful completion of the program, you would get 1 high school credit.
The high school credit was very appealing to me. At the time, Manitoba Education required 20 credits to graduate from high school. DRCSS required 22 credits to graduate. You were required to take one spare each semester so many graduated with 27 credits. I wanted to set a Manitoba record and needed 31 credits to graduate. I found out that you could write your own curriculum and submit it to Manitoba Education and they would allow you to complete those courses independently as long as you could convince a teacher to devote the time to supervise your self-study learning. Yes, I was "that girl". When I look back at high school, I wonder how I didn't get beat up daily.
Anyway, I was in Grade 11 when Student Match was rolled out and if I participated in both years, I would get 2 credits out of it. I thought it would be easy. It wasn't easy.
First of all, it was difficult to get into the program. When I was interviewed, I was told I wasn't the demographic that they were seeking. They were looking for senior matches who were in danger of not graduating and really needed the credit. Well, I was in danger of not setting a Manitoba record, didn't that count? They decided to let me in.
Our first retreat was in September. We had to sign a form indicating that we would not use substances while participating in any aspect of Student Match. Well, of course, that was a no-brainer and I didn't even think of doing that.
We arrived Friday after school and stayed until Sunday afternoon. I didn't know many of the senior matches because most of them were not in my social circle, but over the year, we did become family. The training that we received was amazing. It was like taking a Masters class in Social Work. We learned very complicated intervention strategies and a high level of communication and basic counseling skills. Those student match retreats gave me information that has lasted a life-time. And, we also had a lot of good clean fun. Even though I didn't know many of the participants, I had an advantage that made me accepted. I had a long history of going to camps. Brownie Camp, music camp, writing camp, Girl Guide camp, poetry camp (yes, that was a thing), lots of Bible Camps, and even a leadership camp. So, basically I knew every camp song there was and was happy to share. I also knew a lot of camp games. The Official Student Match game was Duck, Duck, Goose. Whenever we got together, everyone wanted to play Duck, Duck, Goose. There was one senior match that I was a little afraid of. I didn't know much about her, other than she was particularly proficient in beating people up. I only saw her in action once and she had somehow gotten into a fight with two guys. She walked away a bloody nose. They both crawled away. Yeah, I was a little afraid of her. She turned out to be the biggest fan of Duck, Duck, Goose. I will never forget her smile and her passion playing Duck, Duck, Goose.
It was a wonderful lesson for me. The human experience is universal. We all come from different paths but we have more in common than we will ever realize.
On Saturday, I asked the question that was on my mind. Why was the Alcoholism Foundation of Manitoba funding this program?
The answer was obvious, but it wasn't at the time. The Field Worker said that the Alcoholism Foundation wasn't only interested in treating those suffering from Alcoholism but interested in helping those who may be affected by Alcoholism and wanted to prevent alcoholism in the future.
Since most senior matches were in jeopardy of not graduating, it was likely that they may dealing with addiction in their family. Junior matches were already identified as a group that may turn to alcohol in their future.
So, this community program was about prevention, not only for the up and coming generation but the one after that.
This forward thinking is as relevant today as it was decades ago. Addiction is a disease that is non-discriminatory. It affects people from all walks of life and it is pervasive. It doesn't just affect those that have the addiction. It affects family members, friends, co-workers, you name it. We are all in this together. Let's work together, and there is room for everyone in this battle. We all can make a difference in our own way.
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