The Curriculum

LifeSkills Training is a scientifically proven program with over 20 years of continuous research behind it that seeks to influence major social and psychological factors that promote the initiation and early use of substances. LifeSkills is delivered in a series of classroom sessions over 3 years. The sessions use lecture, discussion, coaching, and practice to enhance students' self-esteem, feelings of self-efficacy, ability to make decisions, and ability to resist peer and media pressure.

LifeSkills Training consists of three major components that address critical domains found to promote substance use. Research has shown that students who develop skills in these three domains are far less likely to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviors. The three components each focus on a different set of skills:

• Drug Resistance Skills enable young people to recognize and challenge common misconceptions about substance use, as well as deal with peer and media pressure to engage in substance use.
• Personal Self-Management Skills help students to examine their self-image and its effects on behavior, set goals and keep track of personal progress, identify everyday decisions and how they may be influenced by others, analyze problem situations, and consider the consequences of alternative solutions before making decisions.
• General Social Skills give students the necessary skills to overcome shyness, communicate effectively and avoid misunderstandings, use both verbal and nonverbal assertiveness skills to make or refuse requests, and recognize that they have choices other than aggression or passivity when faced with tough situations.

The following scientifically proven results of the LifeSkills Training Curriculum have been observed up to six (6) years after students participate in the program:

• Reduced initiation of cigarette smoking by 75%.
• Reduced alcohol use by 54%, heavy drinking by 73%, and drinking to intoxication one or more times a week by 79%.
• Reduced marijuana use by 71%, and weekly or more frequent use by 83%.
• Reduced multiple drug use by 66%.
• Reduced both long-term and short-term substance abuse.
• Reduced pack-a-day smoking by 25%.
• Decreased use of inhalants, narcotics, and hallucinogens by up to 50%.

LifeSkills Training was developed by Dr. Gilbert J. Botvin, PhD., an internationally known expert on drug abuse prevention. For the past 20 years, Dr. Botvin has been a full-time faculty member of Weill Medical College at Cornell University, and he currently serves as a professor in both the Department of Public Health and the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Botvin is also director of Cornell’s Institute for Prevention Research. 

Click on the image below to go to the LifeSkills Training Curriculum website for more information.

Click on the image below to go to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) website for more information on all the Federally recognized proven drug and alcohol prevention programs.  By following the link and scrolling down the page, you will find a link to SAMHSA's information page for the LifeSkills Training Curriculum.

The Life Skills Training Curriculum has been selected for "Excellence" by the following organizations.  Clicking on an organizations logo below will take you to their website.