Alternatives

Alternatives—activities designed to provide healthy, positive, pro-social diversions for young people to steer them from alcohol and other drugs—can complement other strategies by occupying young people’s time during the non-school hours. Mentoring, community service, recreational programs, sober parties and dances, and youth drop-in centers, are just a few examples of alternative strategies being used to promote substance-free lifestyles. Alternatives function as a valuable adjunct to primary prevention efforts and can make prevention fun. Specific resources on the Alternatives StrategySite:

Alternatives: A Strategy for Prevention Practitioners — A 23-page paper on alternatives: what it means as a prevention strategy and how you can incorporate it into your work as a prevention practitioner. It addresses Benefits of Alternatives, Types of Alternatives Programs, Mentoring Programs, Community Service and Service Learning Programs, Skill-Building Programs and Recreational Activities.

Alternatives Fact Sheet and Illustration (Webpage,  Acrobat 2 pages) An alternatives fact sheet that describes ways in which alternatives are used in substance abuse prevention, plus an illustration—a real-life example of alternatives in action.

Alternatives Resources - An alternatives resources section

Alternatives video features an intergenerational program that has found different ways to bring young students together with older adults, their parents, and other family members. This video is accessible using windows media player 9 series for Windows 98 2nd ed., Me, and 2000. Click here to download it.

Alternatives video transcript- Transcript of a video, featuring the Across Ages program, created by CSAP's Northeast CAPT and used in trainings.

Multiple Strategies video features an agency that uses multiple strategies as a resource in Gloucester, MA. This video is accessible using windows media player 9 series for Windows 98 2nd ed., Me, and 2000. Click here to download it.

Multiple Strategies video transcript- Transcript of a video, featuring the Gloucester Prevention Network, created by CSAP's Northeast CAPT and used in trainings.

CSAP's Northeast CAPT Prevention Framework - Key elements used to support the application of science-based substance abuse prevention programs and strategies at the regional, state and local levels. This framework guides our work by defining major areas of consideration in science-based prevention providing a broad overview of the theoretical foundation of a comprehensive prevention approach guiding practitioners through a clear program planning process. This diagram lays out both the elements and the processes necessary for effective prevention approaches.

Prevention: What's Science Got to Do with It? (Webpage, Acrobat 24 pages) A digest that provides information on all seven of the prevention strategies.

Improving the Larger Environment (Webpage, Acrobat 16 pages) An overview that provides more information on environmental change as an effective approach to prevention.

Help on Acrobat is available