Talking to youth about safe prescription medication usage and storage can help mitigate misuse of medications among youth and their families.
Explore these free resources that can educate kids of all ages about using medications safely, the harmful consequences of misuse, and how to talk about substance abuse with peers and other youth. Pick a curriculum you’d like your program to implement and add it to your Afterschool Heals Tennessee action plan template.
Grades K – 5
- Character Development Lesson Unit – This unit explores character traits that help build resiliency. Lessons can be modified for elementary and middle school students and are broken into four days: ELA Day, Math Day, STEM Day, and Enrichment Day.
- Positive Choices Lesson Unit – This unit guides youth through discussions about making positive choices for health. Lessons can be modified for elementary and middle school students and are broken into four days: ELA Day, Math Day, STEM Day, and Enrichment Day.
- Children’s Books about Mental Health – This listing of 44 books that help kids learn educational and emotional challenges.
- Generation Rx – Generation Rx provides free, engaging, age-appropriate resources to educate elementary-aged youth about using medications safely.
- Operation Prevention – Operation Prevention’s classroom resources provide educators with engaging tools that are aligned to national health and science standards and integrate seamlessly into classroom instruction.
- Up and Away Coloring Book – This coloring book explains what medicine is, is not, and encourages safety.
Middle and High School
- My Generation Rx – Resources to educate teens about the importance of using medications safely, as well as teaching teens key skills to turn down invitations to misuse and positive alternatives to cope with the demands of life.
- Respect yourself. Respect Others. – Lessons help develop students’ understanding of how respect is key to healthy behaviors and healthy relationships.
- Drugs & Health Blog Teacher’s Guide – Weekly blog posts for teens and facilitators guide that connects the science of drug misuse to real life.
- Operation Prevention – Operation Prevention’s classroom resources provide educators with engaging tools that are aligned to national health and science standards and integrate seamlessly into classroom instruction.
Professional Development for Afterschool Leaders
- Afterschool Webinar: Are You Ready to Assess Social and Emotional Development?
- An Important Lesson: Helping Students Avoid Prescription Drug Abuse
- Generating Youth Power – By engaging youth in tackling real community problems, youth learn more, care more, and increase their own well-being and positive behaviors, all the while growing into responsible citizens.
- Building a trauma-informed care approach for afterschool programs & community-based organizations.
