For children and adolescents, there are two primary environments for prevention of psychoactive substances use – family and school. The advantage of schools is the ability to implement interventions with all children (universal prevention), not only those in risk groups (selective prevention) or vulnerable individuals (indicated prevention). All children can benefit from universal interventions in schools, given that they are all exposed to some degree of risk. Furthermore, the messages we convey to all youth in school can be received without stigma, because the interventions do not rely on the identifiying and potentionally isolating youth who have already started using psychoactive substances. In addition, isolating high-risk yoth into a closed group (Poulin, 2001) has been proven to increase their risky behavior.

Research on preventive interventions in the school environment has demonstrated their effectiveness in improving academic performance and preventing school dropout (Gasper, 2011) – these are two basic academic goals.

Not all preventive activities and programs will be effective for all school populations, so the intervention should be implemented with the age group for which there is evidence of its effectiveness. School prevention programs should contribute to the reducing of risk factors and the strengthening protective factors in the school environment. Preventive activities should be integrated into the school curriculum to ensure their long-term implementation.

“Preventive Projects and Programs Implemented by the Expert Center in Schools”

Who actually wins? is a prevention program aimed at preventing youth involvement in gambling, intended for first and second-year high school students, and aims to improve the professional approach to gambling prevention and reduce gambling among this population.

Let’s grow up together is an eduactional program for promoting health and personal development of children from 1st to 4th, or 5th and 6th grades. 5. Let’s Grow Up Together is based on the approach of enhancing life skills (which can also be described as personal development), meaning that children’s social and personal skills are strengthened.

Guiding Stars is one of the projects that the Expert Center has been implementing since 2010. Trained volunteers are students of the humanities who, through educational work with at-risk children, help develop social skills and healthy habits, as well as provide support in schooling for children who live and/or work on the streets.”