Intervention Aroostook: 7.6.2021

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) -A longstanding national youth organization is working to increase their presence in Maine and Aroostook County. By doing so they’re hoping to deter more young people from starting risky behaviors like substance use and drinking. Shawn Cunningham reports in this week’s Intervention Aroostook.

SADD used to be known as Students Against Drinking and Driving. Now the youth organization has underwent a name change to Students Against Destructive Decisions and with that rebranding comes embraced a new an expanded vision says Maine Director for SADD Christina Schechtman (SHECT-MAN).

Christina Schechtman Maine S.A.D.D. Dir.

“we’re student led and our students leaders said while driving drunk is always going to be a high priority for us and always an issue we’re facing there’s a lot of other things going on that we wanna be able to address and they came up with the new name which allows us to cover a variety of substances and other issues that students face in their daily lives.”

Shawn Cunningham NO STANDUP

Like everyone and everything else, the past year has posed some challenges in their mission work, especially with young people going from in person learning to online. BUT she says that only provided an opportunity to expand their platform...

“we’ve obviously done what other people have done which is become more virtual more accessible that’s been great for our students to some extent because now students from around the country are able to engage and interact with each other.”

Interact and perhaps grow even more so through the creation of virtual chapters. Maine has always had a SADD presence downstate at Lisbon High School. Now efforts and conversations are happening to hopefully bring the organization to schools and student engagement in Aroostook County. She says the organization IS needed in every school district and every community. to help kids make healthy choices and reject risky behaviors like doing drugs and drinking...

“SADD also addresses some of the things that are at the root causes of some of these risky behaviors it allows students resilience leadership self esteem training which as we all know as those things get built up students are less likely to partake in the more dangerous behaviors.”

For more information on SADD in Maine go to the national sadd website at sadd.org. Shawn Cunningham, NS 8.

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