The Leadership and Resiliency Program (LRP) at the Holmes campus is an intensive substance abuse prevention program designed to serve adolescents and teens (ages 12–18) who are “at risk” of failing academically, are having disciplinary problems, substance abuse issues and/or have severe life stressors. LRP uses a strengths-based approach to focus on three key resiliency areas:

"As a member of LRP I have learned how to control my emotions and work well with people, try new things, and stay honest and loyal to myself."

Goal setting
Positive coping skills
Healthy relationships

LRP seeks to bolster such resiliency traits in students as:

ability to delay gratification and develop a future orientation
optimism
positive relationships with adults and peers
self control
effective management of risk-taking

Moreover, as students are developing resiliency traits, it is the philosophical belief of LRP that the effects of risk factors in students’ lives (i.e. impulsivity in youth, risk for academic failure, low level of school and community bonding, poverty) are being diminished.

"In LRP, I learned to appreciate what I have, because over this year I have seen a lot of people without. I also learned to respect myself and was taught that no matter what happens I can make my own decisions. That helped me out a lot."

Short Term Goals

Reduced school behavioral incidents
Increased attendance
Increased MAP scores
Increased school and community bonding

Long Term Goals

High school graduation
Minimize illegal behaviors
Reduce usage of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
Post high school enrollment in college or employment

PROGRAM COMPONENTS

Resiliency groups
Community volunteer experiences
Adventure activities

Resiliency Groups: During the school day, weekly resiliency groups of 8-15 participants meet on a rotating cycle to ensure that students’ classroom time is maximized. Students engage in experiential teambuilding activities, develop healthy peer relationships, learn new positive coping skills, and focus on setting and obtaining realistic goals.

Service Learning: Community volunteer experiences serve to foster a strong sense of goal orientation and to develop a strong sense of altruism, encouraging youth to view themselves as agents of change and increase social awareness. Successful, positive experiences with building empathy skills and community recognition are integral in enhancing a teen’s sense of self.

LRP Service Activities:

Blazing Trails - creating a local bike trail
Annual Great American Clean Up
Annual Project Sticker Shock
Annual Red Ribbon Week Substance Abuse awareness
Disabled Veterans
Fundraiser for Haiti
Rosedale Manor Nursing Home - “Adopt-a-Grandparent”
Annual Hoops for Hope
Annual Step Up Cincinnati - city-wide service learning projects
Licking River Cleanup
Fairhaven Rescue Mission - canned food collection
Northern Kentucky Emergency Cold Shelter - preparing meals
Pen Pal Mentors with local elementary students

Adventure Learning: Adventure activities allow for healthy risk-taking to be experienced in an effective and fun manner and to help adolescents turn natural risk-taking impulses into positive behaviors. Problems with risk-taking can come about because youth often lack the experience and knowledge to know when risk can result in harm or serious outcomes. It is critical to identify potentially destructive risk-taking behaviors as early as possible and to address them through comprehensive and consistent programming.

PROGRAM DATA

246 students have successfully completed at least one year of LRP
95.6% program retention rate
100% of LRP participants have graduated High School or are on track to graduate
99.2% of LRP Seniors have enrolled in a post-secondary institution or the military

Recent self-report data findings of LRP students indicate that experiential learning has a lasting impact on the social-emotional development of students as evidenced by the following data: