InSight Substance Use prevention programming:
Strengthening Families Program 7 -17

InSight Youth and Family Connections received funding from the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN) to provide services to Wayne County families utilizing the Strengthening Family Program (SFP) 7 -17. The SFP is an evidence-based family relationship skills that are useful for all families – not just those at risk training program.

The SFP 7 - 17 is recognized both nationally and internationally. Parents and youth attend weekly SFP skills classes together and separately, learning parenting skills and youth life and refusal skills.

SFP is effective because it was specifically crafted to increase Protective Factors and reduce the risk factors that lead to both substance abuse and youth depression.

SFP teaches–and has parents and youth practice–skills involved in bonding (creating warm, loving relationships), setting clear, firm boundaries (rules against antisocial behavior, including drug and alcohol use), and monitoring their children’s emotional well-being and activities to see that they always stay in an alcohol and drug-free social environment.

Skill practice creates new prosocial habit patterns in the brain, which helps improve behavior, strengthens the parent-child relationship, and helps a child feel loved.

SFP thus produces micro-environmental changes in a young person’s life that make use of addictive substances very costly in terms of losing parental approval and also losing privileges. Teen substance use thus decreases.

The SFP 7–17 lessons include the following skills:

  1. Daily looking for and complimenting the good; eliminating harsh criticism
  2. Using communication and fun family meetings
  3. Problem solving, win-win negotiation, and pre-problem solving to stay out of trouble
  4. Limit setting and establishing mild, fair, pre-determined consequences
  5. Making family rules and setting up a reward system for good behavior
  6. Reducing stress and using good anger management skills
  7. Setting goals and using contracts for change
  8. Learning how alcohol and drugs hijack the teen brain
  9. Choosing good friends and monitoring kids’ activities
  10. Creating fun family traditions, learning pro-social values, and engaging in service

Objectives

  • To increase knowledge of the impact of alcohol, tobacco, prescription and illegal drugs on children, youth and families
  • To develop coping skills to deal with stressful situations
  • To develop problem solving and decision making skills
  • To decrease use of alcohol and other drugs by increasing knowledge and use of healthy life skills
  • To educate participants about substance use as a disease and how it affects families
  • Delayed onset of substance use and other problem behavior
  • Decrease in substance use related episodes of truancy, tardiness, behavior referrals
  • Increase in attendance, persistence in school, credits accrued, and school completion;
  • Improvement in family communication
  • Improvement in family relationship and
  • Reductions in substance use related escalations/violations