HISTORY
AWARENESS started as a Mentoring Program that was created in 2006 as a result of an underage drinking party. After a lack of empathy from parents, teens started the program to change the culture for future generations.
It was defined as a teen initiated prevention program in Ulster County with adult guidance. It is aimed at giving middle school youth alternative activities provided by High School students who complete training created by Ulster County Mental Health Association to promote pro-social skills during recreational activities that constitute healthy alternatives to drug and alcohol use. After the youth graduated high school the Mentoring program ended.
The Awareness Alcohol Program was formed in 2007 when teen Mentors reached out to their peers that were involved in a fatal drunk driving car crash on prom night that took the life of their friend. In 2009 we expanded to cover substance use.
In 2011, SUNY New Paltz Students, Dr. Ken Winters, and Founder Marie Shultis created the first edition of our 8-week program.
In 2015 we expanded and changed our mission to :
AWARENESS is a non-judgmental peer–to–peer education program addressing behavioral health for youth ages 13 – 25 to help them identify if behavior modification is needed. AWARENESS operates as an Anger, Communication, Coping, Gambling, Job Training Skills, Life Skills, Resume Building/Creating, Self Esteem, Substance Use, and behavioral health program.
In 2015 in the 10th edition of our 8-week program, we added a gambling section and became an approved NYS OASAS Alcohol Awareness Program.
In 2016, youth in solid recovery found us and started to help in light of the heroin epidemic, allowing us to help higher-risk youth and older adolescents. We have a life coach support program where we connect those struggling with addiction with a peer life coach who helps them get the level of care needed. We are also an after-school care program where youth can have continued support and give back.
We are now offering Life Coaching for Parents and/or their children. Please call for a confidential consultation at 845-417-1484
Please see the PROGRAMS Link to see what we currently offer.
Peer to Peer Meeting in New Paltz
The AWARENESS Program provides a program in relationship with the legal system that ensures accountability on many levels for underage drinking offenders, marijuana, and any other violations and non-violent criminal charges in Ulster County. This program has adolescents speaking to and educating offenders between the ages of 13 and 32 years old divided by age and risk level. The youth who have participated identify that the use of peers their own age to deliver the program is one of the most effective tools of the program.
We feel it is important that parents be involved in all aspects of the educational activities listed below. This offers both parent & teen life-changing information and an opportunity for open discussion about the seriousness of the issue with their child. We also have parent and parent and teen interviews available to teach strategies for better communication with each other.
Strategies: ·
- Substance Self Assessment Educational 8 Week Program ~ We have an 8-week program with evidence-based strategies and measurement tools. Based on a tool developed by Helene White, Ph.D. the RAPI (Rutger’s Alcohol Problem Index) is an element of the BASICS program. The RAPI inventories consequences associated with drinking. It simply allows the person to see that their alcohol/substance use is negatively impacting them more than they may realize.
- Awareness DVD ~ The teens acted in and produced a two-part educational DVD using situational role-plays to show how to reduce the risks of negative consequences and the staggering statistics related to drinking and drug use in the first part. The second part of the DVD consists of the teens telling their experience from their prom night that resulted in the DWI death of one of their friends and the incarceration for vehicular manslaughter of their other friend.
- Live Speakers ~ Young adults who have lived through addiction and recovery share their experiences.
- Community Service ~ Offenders that are required to participate in community service will be invited to attend weekly meetings held in New Paltz. The Coordinator will follow up and make sure the offender is participating and note their progress to report to the court.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
What is Awareness, Inc.?
AWARENESS Inc. is a nonprofit that has been in existence for 12 years providing educational programs using evidence-based practices in a group format. The common goal of all programs is to help youth build positive relationships with themselves and others while learning cognitive skills that support healthy decision-making. The peer-led group format empowers them to utilize what they learned to help others. The following programs utilize a non-judgmental peer-to-peer approach to address behavioral health, substance use, anger, coping skills, etc. for youth ages 16 to 25, to help them change their attitudes and identify if behavior modification is needed. Groups are divided by age and risk level.
Peer Facilitated Self Help Program
School and Community based educational cognitive skill-building program targeting youth, ages 13 – 18 and 18 – 25, that engages adolescents from the same age and risk level in an 8-week program led by trained peer leaders.
Peer Facilitated Self Help Program for Youth at Higher Risk
Cognitive skill-building group for youth ages 18 – 30 out of high school who are struggling with addiction. Young people in solid recovery are trained as peer leaders who also help participants connect to care resources. Participants are encouraged to stay involved, are supported if other levels of care are necessary. When appropriate they are invited back as part of an aftercare plan, to build a sober network and eventually once in solid recovery to train to become peer leaders.
The Next Step Group
A wellness job/career networking group for young people aged 18 to 25. With guidance from professionals in the community who love what they do, participants are engaged in helping each other to find the next step towards professional development and meaningful satisfying work.
New Paltz and Ellenville High School Programs
For the past six years, AWARENESS Inc. has provided an after-school program in New Paltz High School for any students who volunteer or are mandated to attend by the court or school. AWARENESS New Paltz peer leaders have peer trained Ellenville student participants in peer leadership at a training day there as part of the 8-week Ellenville AWARENESS Program for high schoolers, with the hope that Ellenville peer trainers will train students in other school districts in the future. Having the students from one district train another and, so on, is a natural way to duplicate the program and increase its positive benefits. Just as the opioid epidemic spreads from one community to another, this unique model spreads protective factors and early intervention from one community to another. It also helps youth experiencing negative peer pressure to move to experience peer support to prevent, delay, reduce or cease substance abuse. Further, Awareness has provided yearly speaker presentations in New Paltz health classes for the past six years. In Fall 2018, Jo Coppola, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, AWARENESS’s mental health consultant, and older peers went to Ellenville to provide classroom presentations with her there. They spoke in the health classes sharing their recovery experiences. The school invited a reporter who documented this event in the following article. Click here for the story
In light of the recent pandemic, AWARENESS has been meeting online since June 2020 but is planning on holding the same events and programs, just on a virtual online format which allows more participants and flexible scheduling
Contacts Served
AWARENESS Inc. provides services to a significant number of youth. It has served on average, over 100 individual participants a year with its 8-week program, as well as providing substance abuse presentations to 1,918 youth contacts in 2018 in high school health classes and assemblies with an additional 180 people trained in and provided free Narcan.
Participant Creativity
Awareness Inc. encourages the creativity of participants. In the past participants have developed original videos to provide substance abuse and mental health information in the form of short scenes drawn from real-life scenarios enacted to promote healthy choices. These videos were then utilized as a part of peer training. New Paltz students have enlisted their principle and created original PSA’S to make the community aware of Awareness as a youth resource, as well as created a video outlining the meaning of Black Lives Matter to participants. Parents become engaged with the program’s effort in early intervene in substance abuse as well. There is a true story of a Mom sharing her experiences in a 1-minute PSA on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/savingyouthfromaddiction/videos/1110214922350561
School Presentations
AWARENESS Inc. offers School assemblies and presentations in health classes and student government classes. AWARENESS is also hosting virtual parent nights to keep parents and students updated during the pandemic
Narcan Trainings
In 2018, Narcan Training sessions were provided by Marie Shultis and local youth in partnership with Hudson
Valley Community Services, the Ulster County Sheriff, Town Supervisors, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz
High School, the NYS Office of Mental Health and Ulster County Legislators, Richard Parete, John Parete,
Carl Belfiglio, Ron Lapp, David Donaldson, and Craig Lopez.
Additional Projects
- WOKE Middle School Program: In the 2018-2019 school year, High School Peer Leaders from New Paltz High School created a program where High Schoolers lead middle schoolers in positive discussions about real-life issues, such as bullying, peer pressure, healthy and unhealthy ways of coping with stress, etc, in a format where middle schoolers learned from the advice and experiences of high school peer leaders and were trained themselves to be peer leaders
- As the COVID-19 Pandemic has shut down schools and made in-person meetings impossible, AWARENESS has developed an online format where discussion, training, and connection happen via zoom call on a weekly basis, as students share ways to cope with quarantine conditions, mental health experiences, and encouragement in battling substance abuse. To learn more and find out how to join, contact Marie Shultis below
ABOUT THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
In her role as Executive Director of Awareness, Marie Shultis serves on many Committees and Boards including the following:
- Family Peer Advocate Training and Credentialing Advisory Committee
- Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors NYS Planning Consortium Mid-Hudson Region Board
- NYS Mental Health Hudson River Regional Coalition Member- Advocate
- CCAR Certified Recovery Coach and Ethics Trainer
- Certified Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor
- Certified Family Peer Advocate Professional Families Together in NYS
- Skill Builder Trainer through the NYS Office of Mental Health
- Marie is a Certified CCAR Recovery Coach, Ethics and Professionalism, and Youth Mental Health First Aid Trainer.
*AWARENESS Inc.’s 8-week program has been documented as an effective early intervention program. During its early development, Dr. Hongyan Cui, Ph.D. in Program Evaluation, Measurement and Research Design, found that 90% of the AWARENESS participants assessed, identified an increased perceived need to change their behavior after completing the program, a very high success rate for any program.
Thank you for taking the time to read about AWARENESS’s services in the community.
Contact Information:
Marie Shultis 845-417-1484