TL;DR: A drug and alcohol education program including an assembly and peer support.

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Update | June 28, 2024 

“Armoring the youth of today with awareness and support.”

The A.R.M.O.R Program is a new program in replace of the old programming for The Drugs and Alcohol Education for high school students Grade 9-12. The new program is rooted in a more supportive, non punitive approach, armoring students with the knowledge and supports they may need while attending high school, and to navigate the world ahead!

Our task!

We were asked to look at the gaps in the system regarding the theme of “Lack of Resources for Addiction Services”. We felt as a group that the one reason there is a lack of services, is that there is still a stigma that addiction is a “moral failing”, or that one can just “stop doing drugs”, or even that you are “a bad person” if you do drugs. The notion that addiction is still seen as “a choice” instead of treatable disease is still a widespread misconception and furthermore the reason for use is often still misunderstood as research now suggests that addiction is rooted in trauma and is often a symptom of underlying complex issues. With these persistent negative attitudes towards addiction, other agencies seem to be more a priority for funding.

How can we foster change?

Changing societal views surrounding addiction can often be very challenging, and we thought long and hard about how we could start to change the system. We thought back to the first time we formed ideas surrounding drugs and alcohol, and this led us to discussions of our high school days. We remembered that the program was often outdated and delivered by the police force with scare tactics and slogans like “Just say No”. The Program never delved into the reasons as to WHY a student might be partaking in drugs for example, and furthermore when a student was caught with drugs or under the influence, they were either suspended or expelled, which really didn’t offer a solution, and furthermore not much support. After researching the current system and programming today, we found out not much has changed!

We would like to introduce “The A.R.M.O.R Program” which stands for Awareness Regarding Mind Altering Substances Outreach and Referral Program and features:

• An exciting Youth engagement tool that changes yearly to get the youth excited about the Awareness assembly. We are currently looking into having the Armor looking Tesla Cybertruck arrive at the school, or The London Knights’ Mascot attend in his Armor!
• An awareness assembly day for all students which comprises of an overview of all “Mind Altering Substances”; how to identify them and their street names for better knowledge.
• Following this will be Five “Lived Experienced” speakers from all walks of life sharing their life stories of recovery, with a vision that a student might identify with the speaker’s story and reach out for help.
• Students caught with drugs or under the influence of a substances will be placed with a lived experience mentor in a “Big brother/Big sister” type of framework instead of being suspended or expelled.
• The program offers students outreach and referrals to community based social service agencies in an early intervention for further support to meet their needs. This partnerships armors students with the knowledge and supports of organizations at an early age.

What are we currently working on?

Our vision is to begin to change attitudes surrounding addiction at school level which translates to the family unit at home, and thus spreads through to the larger community. We are currently developing all the marketing strategies to truly engage the youth in this program and are looking for guest speakers with lived experience of substance use and recovery, sponsorship interest and agency referral partnerships.  

• Do you have a powerful story of recovery and would like to share it at an assembly day and be a student mentor?
• Are you interested in sponsoring the Armor Program, and armor the youth of tomorrow?
• Are you a social services agency committed to fostering a supportive approach to substance use disorder and would like to help students at an early age?
• If so, we would love to hear from you! We will keep you posted on our developments!