New classes aim for community awareness

Sgt. 1st Class Norma Mejia was looking for answers and guidance when she attended the Adolescent Training for Parents class March 20 at the Landstuhl Learning Center.

Discussing teen trends in substance use, this class is the first in a series of awareness training, open to all community members and hosted by the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern. Classes will be held once a quarter, said Heather Robinson, the garrison’s Employee Assistance Program coordinator. This program is a confidential assessment and referral service to help Department of the Army civilians and retirees and their family members to overcome personal or job-related difficulties.

“What I’m doing is identifying the awareness months and then locating the subject matter experts in the area to give presentations,” said Robinson, who  initiated this series of classes.

Presenting this first class was Ruth Hines, the Adolescent Substance Abuse Counseling Service clinical supervisor, a contractor with the U.S. Army. She supervises two ASACS counselors who are faculty members at the Kaiserslautern Middle and High schools. They teach awareness classes and offer free counseling services to students.

She first talked about inhalant use among teenagers. Other topics included alcohol and drug use, harmful effects and signs of use. Hines also explained how parents and community members can make a difference and what types of resources are available here.

“It gave me more knowledge on some of the things ‘to keep my eye on,’” said Sergeant Mejia, a parent of a preteen and teenager. She added that she would recommend this class to other parents.

About 15 garrison child and youth service workers also attended the class.
Robinson said the next class will be on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome sometime in June.
“I know about all these resources in the community, and I’m here to help and provide support,” said Robinson. She can be reached at 486-1710 or heather.robinson@EUR.army.mil.

Attending a class in this series fulfills one hour of the annual three-hour mandatory training requirement for DA civilians.

For more information about preventing and recognizing inhalant abuse, visit www.poisonprevention.org or www.inhalants.org.