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 Reconnecting Youth© (RY) is an award-winning, research-based prevention program for youth who are at high risk of dropping out of school. These youth often exhibit multiple behavior problems, such as substance abuse, aggression, depression, or suicide risk behaviors. RY uses a partnership model involving peers, school personnel, and parents to deliver interventions that address the three central program goals:
- Decreased drug involvement.
- Increased school performance.
- Decreased emotional distress.
The RY program includes four components:
- Reconnecting Youth Class – A daily, semester-long class for up to 12 youth designed to enhance self-esteem, decision-making, personal control, and interpersonal communication.
- School Bonding Activities – Strategies for establishing drug-free activities and friendships and for improving a teenager’s relationship to school.
- Parent Involvement – The school enlists parental support at home for the day-to-day life skills learned in RY and to provide progress reports.
- School System Crisis Response Plan – A plan for suicide prevention and post-suicide intervention.
RY’s development and framework were largely informed by the work of Leona Eggert, Ph.D., RN, FAAN with the University of Washington School of Nursing. It is specifically designed to meet the students’ needs for inclusion and excitement while teaching them how to be “winners,” stay in control, make wise decisions, and evaluate potential consequences of their choices. The RY program is unique in the following ways:
- It is a comprehensive, sustained, semester-long high school class preferably taken for credit.
- It is taught by a specially trained RY group leader who excels in working with high-risk youth.
- It is psycho-educational (integrates small-group work and life-skills training models).
- It includes a peer group support component.
- It is explicitly designed to:
- Modify known risk factors linked with school dropout, adolescent drug involvement, depression, and youth suicide risk.
- Enhance personal and social protective factors.
- It is proven effective for increasing school performance and reducing drug involvement and suicide risk.
Sixteen years of research and multiple program evaluations clearly show that Reconnecting Youth is effective in helping high-risk youth increase their school achievement, reduce their drug involvement, and decrease their depression, aggression, and suicidal behaviors. Desired changes also occurred in enhanced personal control and school bonding, as well as decreasing deviant peer bonding.
Documented results of the Reconnecting Youth program include:
- 18% increase in GPA for all classes.
- 35% decrease in the dropout rate.
- 80% decrease in suicidal behaviors.
- 50% decrease in hard drug use.
The effectiveness of Reconnecting Youth has been recognized by numerous agencies and organizations:
- The “First Annual Report on School Safety” released by the White House listed Reconnecting Youth as one of the top-tier, demonstrated programs for working with high-risk adolescents.
- “Safe Schools, Safe Students: A Guide to Violence Prevention Strategies” gave Reconnecting Youth a grade of A+ as one of the country’s top 10 research-based violence prevention programs with proven success (Only five of the 84 leading programs evaluated received A grades, while 49 received grades of C or D).
- The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program of the U.S. Department of Education recommended Reconnecting Youth as a program that helps prevent drug abuse and violent behavior among schoolchildren.
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recognized Reconnecting Youth as one of the top three prevention programs by featuring it in their videotape, “Coming Together on Prevention” and in the companion publication, “Drug Abuse Prevention for At-risk Individuals.”
- The states of Texas and Maine have made RY an integral part of statewide prevention programming.
Youth First works in partnership with area schools to secure funding and to insure the highest quality coordination and implementation. Youth First provides:
- A trained Youth First social worker to lead the class, help with identifying students appropriate for the program, and work with the school to improve each student’s individual academic and behavioral performance.
- Training for a teacher who acts as the co-leader.
- The RY curriculum, including hand-outs for students.
- Supplies, materials, and incentives for students, like field trips or pizza parties.
- Evaluation tools, data collection, and data analysis to measure outcomes.
- Program coordination, including assistance in successfully integrating the program in respective school cultures and schedules.
- Technical assistance as needed.
- Collaborative efforts to secure funding for the program.
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