Nuts & Bolts of Hope Learning Academy Intervention

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Hope Learning Academy utilizes a multi-faceted approach to drug intervention that includes:

1. Education

   • Two members of our staff are health care professionals.  One is a retired Pharm.D. and one is a Pediatric BSN.  Not only are they life coaches building a trusting long-term rapport and relationship with our clients, but they are constantly educating our clients and their families about the negative effects of drug abuse.

   • Our staff health care professionals review the medical history of our students and give recommendations to parents and direct them towards practical and educational resources to support our clients effectively.

   • Our staff educate parents on warning signs of addiction, how to recognize physiological and psychological symptoms consistent with drug abuse, and effective strategies for intervention.

   • We have partnered with the Nursing program at California Baptist University to train our clients who are recovering from addiction to be healthy nutritionally and in their other daily habits to support continued recovery. 

     • Students are also trained and certified in community CPR to intervene when they see someone in medical distress, especially someone overdosing on drugs.  This also serves a “scared-straight” type of purpose in our intervention plan with those struggling with addiction, as they are educated on the realities of respiratory arrest and overdose resulting especially from opiate abuse.

   • This year we will be expanding to educate our clients about the dangers of vaping.  Research is supporting that many of the dangers of vaping are only beginning to be understood and the marketing of vape juices and flavors tend to cater to children.

2. Accountability

   • Students are consistently and randomly drug tested utilizing a 12-panel drug test and tested for adulteration.  Students are also regularly tested for alcohol use.

     • Students are rewarded with privileges, responsibility, and opportunity for meeting recovery milestones

     • Students receive negative consequences when they miss their milestones, and recovery plans are modified as needed.

     • Parents are counseled, coached, and mentored to take appropriate disciplinary action and set boundaries accordingly, based on Parent Project curriculum.

     • Parents are mentored and held accountable to interface with law enforcement when appropriate including probation officers when a client is on probation, to promote a no                                       tolerance position by all responsible adult stakeholders in the at-risk                                               teenager’s life.

3. Extracurricular Goal Setting

   • Students are encouraged towards positive extracurricular activities such as                                                     Martial Arts, Recreational sports, etc.

     • We operate two local competitive sports team to facilitate extracurricular                                              activity for pre-teens and teens, to prevent “at-riskness” in line with our vision                                              as an organization.

     • We have partnered and sponsored with other extracurricular sports providers                                such as Menifee Girls’ softball and Southwest Self Defense. (Martial Arts Studio)

4. 12-step Recovery methods

   • Students attend weekly NA, AA, Al ANON meetings as appropriate to their                                                needs.  Weekly NA, AA, and other life recovery services are made available to                                               adults as well.

   • Clients participate in mandatory Group sessions at least three times per week.

5. 1-on-1 Life-Coaching

   • Through every stage of our clients’ journeys, they have an invested, caring,                                        experienced, responsible life coach that is constantly in their life.  Our adolescent life coaches undergo an in-house certification process and must serve as a “mentor” under another life-coach or administrative staff members for 1 year before they are trusted with the title “life coach.”  Life Coaches are adults who are trusted by clients and their families to help with the “follow through” actions of our intervention.  They also serve as the vital link that allows our program the flexibility to constantly adjust to the ever-changing needs of our clients and address potential challenges proactively.  We also have life coaches who work only with parents to support them during the parenting process, especially with parents who are attempting to implement the Parent Project steps that we teach them. 

6. Support of Therapeutic Intervention

   • Our life coaches also help clients follow through with Therapeutic solutions in their lives.  For example, if a student is meeting with a psychologist or psychiatrist, life coaches help students take action on goals that therapists have set for the client to accomplish.  We believe in an “all of the above” approach to positive change in our clients’ lives.  We do not believe we are the final answer in any client’s life and actively help them seek ALL the resources available to them.