Nacoa‘s Children‘s Program Kit is a powerful tool to help children impacted by parental addiction. Designed for school-aged kids and teens (K-12) with parents struggling with substance use disorders, the kit provides over 100 skill-based and developmentally appropriate lesson plans, along with everything needed to offer a strong and effective educational support program. Improved affective and behavioral changes are noticeable as children complete programs using this comprehensive program kit.
Children living with parental substance use are the silent sufferers. Without direct support, education, and healing, these children are at significantly higher risk of developing their own substance use disorder in adolescence or adulthood.
Many professionals who work with children can help promote resilience in children impacted by SUDs in their families.
The Kit is designed to be used as an educational support group program at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Such groups have consistently helped meet school system goals of improved attendance, reducing tardiness, increasing academic success, reducing classroom distractions, and thus improving academic success for both the participant in the group but also in the classroom. It could be a pivotal part of a Student Assistance Program.
The Kit, with its flexibility and comprehensive choice of age-appropriate educational lessons, is helpful in church hosted educational programs and in weekend and summer camps as part of general information programs. The lessons are beneficial to all children and teens since one in four of the students in their class, or in their church, or at their camp is suffering from parental addiction. The Kit’s lessons teach the nature of the disease of addiction, its impact on their peers, and how to respect their pain and “be a friend.” Children are also taught that it is not their fault, that there are lots of kids in similar situations who understand, and that there are safe, caring, and responsible adults who can help.
The Kit is designed to facilitate establishing a children’s educational group program as a critical part of a treatment and recovery support plan for clients in treatment. (Rationale: when the family, including the children of clients, begin to learn, understand, and heal from the hurt of addiction in the family, the primary client is far less likely to relapse and far more likely to stay with his/her own recovery plan. In addition, it can help to break the intergenerational transmission of SUDs and its related trauma.
The Kit is effective for an ongoing educational support experience for the children of parents attending the center for their own recovery and can then give their children the gift of recovery as well – in an age-appropriate comfortable and safe environment.
To order curriculum, order online or download an order form. Online, on-demand training is now an available option when ordering your curriculum!
Contact NACoA for more information, discuss training options for implementation, or explore consultation to create a customized program.
Information/events should not be construed as a substitute for clinical consultation, supervision, or treatment.
Participants are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals for any specific needs or concerns.
