STARS’ training programs make us the leader in Middle Tennessee for our youth prevention curriculum and resources. We provide training and professional development for entire school systems, school administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, school support personnel, parents and community-based organizations to address nonacademic barriers that challenge students on a daily basis.
Bullying Prevention and Trainings:
Alcohol & Drug Prevention and Intervention
An overview of the effects of alcohol and specific drugs, current drug trends, effective interventions for adolescents, prevention principles, the addiction continuum, schoolwide interventions, classroom interventions, and individual interventions.
Best Practices for Responding to Crisis at School
Topics include death, suicide and responding to grief.
Building Strong(er) Working Relationships
Helps adults focus on the importance of having crucial conversations with colleagues, parents and students in schools, community organizations or businesses. Participants will identify and manage relationship breakdowns, coordinate action, achieve business results, value differences, make effective requests, design new and lasting relationships, operate in a strengths-based leadership model, and create an emotionally intelligent work environment.
Connecting Schools, Families and Communities
Cultural Competency Training for School Systems
Professional learning for school personnel that enhances both educator practice and outcomes for each and every student. School personnel self-examine their awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions that pertain to culture and how they can develop culturally-responsive strategies to enrich the educational experiences for all students and families.
Cultural Competency in the Workplace
Professional learning that provides the opportunity for business personnel to self-examine their awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions that pertain to culture and how they can develop culturally-responsive strategies to enrich the work environment.
Lifelines
A Comprehensive Suicide Awareness and Responsiveness Program for Teens. This whole-school program is composed of three components: Lifelines: Prevention, Lifelines: Intervention and Lifelines: Postvention. This trilogy of programs is the only existing model of its kind available for teens. The complete Lifelines Trilogy is based on more than 20 years of suicide-in-youth research that indicates an informed community can help to prevent vulnerable teens from ending their lives.
MOVE2STAND (M2S)
M2S is an interactive training program of STARS that challenges students to examine their attitudes toward bullying. This one-day youth summit creates empathy and helps young leaders understand how bullying impacts school climate and communities.
Training of Trainers Model: In addition to the one-day youth summit, M2S also provides a leadership training geared toward school staff, administrators, coaches and school counselors. M2S provides participants with the resources and knowledge required to implement best practices in bullying prevention to positively impact their school climate.
Restorative Practices
The Whole-School Change Program involves 11 Essential Elements, including affective statements, restorative questions, fair process, small impromptu conferences, proactive circles, responsive circles and restorative conferences. Staff teams, working in small professional learning groups, focus on understanding and using these elements.
Strengthening Families Program
A nationally and internationally recognized parenting and family-strengthening program, SFP is an evidence-based family skills training program found to significantly reduce problem behaviors, delinquency, and alcohol and drug abuse in children and to improve social competencies and school performance. Child maltreatment also decreases as parents strengthen bonds with their children and learn more effective parenting skills.
Student Assistance Program 101 & Student Assistance Program Team Training
SAP 101 – An overview of the best practices for successfully implementing a comprehensive student assistance program.
STARS Student Assistance Program Team Training – A two-day team training to help schools implement STARS’ evidenced-based Student Assistance Program.
Understanding Bullying Prevention Through the Lens of Cultural Competence
Understanding and appreciating the richness of diversity and cultural backgrounds is key in promoting civil discourse in schools and the workplace. In this session participants will explore cultural competency and diversity in terms of culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs, socio-economic status, and language as it relates to best practices in fostering kindness and empathy and reducing bullying and harassment.
Youth Engagement Summits
Summits provide students with tools and resources to effectively improve school climate and help them understand how their voices make a difference. The ultimate goal of these summits is to ensure safe and supportive learning environments to increase academic success.
Other Trainings Include:
- Best Practices in Bullying Prevention
- Classroom Meetings/ Responsive Classrooms
- Move2Stand – Bullying Prevention Bystander Training
- Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
- Safe Dates
- Suicide Prevention (NREPP)
To schedule a training for your school or community, please contact us today!
Programs and Curricula
Our staff members are trained to implement the following curricula and practices.
CONNECTING TO OTHERS
This research-based, proactive program for grades nine through 12 helps students learn skills in self-advocacy, communication, interpersonal behaviors and problem solving. It includes 40 learning activities that take into consideration cultural, ethnic and gender diversity. The activities are divided into the following skill areas: awareness of self and others, communication, responsibility, conflict resolution, cooperation, love and empathy, personal growth, preparing for adulthood. (This curriculum is also available for grades K-12.)
MOTIVATIONAL ENHANCEMENT THERAPY/COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (MET/CBT 5) BRIEF INTERVENTION
MET/CBT 5 is a powerful brief treatment model that has been tested and proved effective in hundreds of outpatient treatment, juvenile probation and correction, and school-based intervention sites throughout the United States and Canada. MET/CBT 5 was originally developed during the largest adolescent treatment study (The CYT Study), and then MET/CBT 5 was proved effective in diverse populations and settings during the CSAT Effective Adolescent Treatment Expansion. The CYT MET/CBT 5 manual is written specifically for cannabis treatment, but the manual was used during the EAT project and proved to be as effective with other substances of abuse, as well.
PROJECT SUCCESS (NREPP)
Project SUCCESS (Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students) prevents and reduces substance use among students 12-18 years of age. The intervention includes four components:
- The Prevention Education Series (PES), an eight-session alcohol, tobacco and drug program conducted by Project SUCCESS counselors (local staff trained by the developers) to help students identify and resist pressures to use substances, correct misperceptions about the prevalence and acceptability of substance use, and understand the consequences of substance use.
- Schoolwide activities and promotional materials to increase the perception of the harm of substance use, positively change social norms about substance use, and increase enforcement of and compliance with school policies and community laws.
- A parent program that includes informational meetings, parent education and the formation of a parent advisory committee.
- Individual and group counseling, in which the Project SUCCESS counselors conduct time-limited counseling for youth following their participation in the PES and an individual assessment. Students and parents who require more intensive counseling, treatment or other services are referred to appropriate agencies or practitioners in the community.
SAFE DATES
The only evidence-based curriculum that prevents dating abuse, Safe Dates helps teens recognize the difference between caring, supportive relationships and controlling, manipulative or abusive dating relationships with its interactive programming.
Awards:
- Designated as a Model Program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
- Selected for the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) and received high ratings on all criteria.
STUDENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (NREPP)
The STARS’ Student Assistance Program (SAP) is an evidence-based prevention program that can be tailored to each school and community served. Based on the principals of Employee Assistance Program, SAP addresses social and emotional issues that are barriers to a young person’s learning, such as substance abuse, violence and bullying. SAP assists students in achieving academic and social success by promoting healthy development, reducing barriers to learning and building upon strengths.
STUDENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Uses a comprehensive systems approach of effective practices principles and strategies to respond to K-12 student challenges; SAP reduces risk factors, promotes protective factors, increases asset development and foster resilience, and provides school-based prevention, intervention and aftercare support services to staff, students and families.
The 9 Constructs of Comprehensive Student Assistance Programming
- School Board Policy
- Staff Development
- Program Awareness
- Internal Referral Process
- Problem Solving Team and Case Management
- Direct Services to Students
- Cooperation & Collaboration with Community Agencies and Resources
- Integration with Other School-Based Programs
- Student Assistance Program Data and Response
