CARES clubs now in 3 Dubois County high schools

The Dubois County Coalition for Adolescent Resilience and Empowerment Strategies (CARES)
started clubs in three county high schools during the 2022-23 school year.

Raider CARES at Southridge began with the fall semester. Wildcat CARES (Jasper) and an informal Northeast Dubois club started during the second semester. At Forest Park Junior-Senior High School, CARES collaborated with the school’s Natural Helpers group on some activities during May, Mental Health Awareness Month.

The student-directed clubs create education and messaging regarding alcohol and drug use. They also address some of the mental health issues known to lead to alcohol and drug experimentation and use by youth.

Club representatives from across the county meet monthly to share ideas and plan countywide events. Club projects have included putting together in-person presentations by respected members of the school community, recording videos for students and public service announcements for local radio stations, posting on social media, sponsoring games and trivia contests at school, and writing a newsletter for students.

Under the sponsorship of Tri-Cap, community leaders started CARES in 2014; it is the only organization in the county whose sole mission is to create a healthier community for students in grades six through 12 through the reduction of youth substance use.

From the coalition’s inception, members realized that for CARES to succeed it had to have input from students. “We knew it couldn’t be the adults thinking we knew what the issues were,” said coalition member Donna Balka, the administrative director of the county health department at the time and the group’s first chairperson. “We needed the buy-in and support of the schools and the students.”

CARES is led by Director Candy Neal and Assistant CARE-ordinator Martha Rasche, both of whom regularly visit schools to give presentations about self-image and self-confidence, strengths and talents, coping skills, journaling and other topics as requested.

In July of last year, Neal and Rasche took three teens to the Mid-Year Training Institute in Orlando,n Fla., sponsored by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions. The students received training to become school and community leaders. Later this month, five local students will attend the conference in Grapevine, Texas.

Ava Bower is one of two local students who attended Mid-Year last year and will attend again this month. She is an incoming junior at Jasper High School and a member of the countywide youth leadership team.

She said the Mid-Year training taught her “a lot” about how to use public resources to find data about youth substance use in the county, and that information has informed her work with Wildcat CARES. Along with learning facts about local youth substance use, she learned through the conference that similar problems exist in communities nationwide.

More importantly, she said, she met young people from across the country with “the same interest” in the problem as she has who are working to address it. The teens exchanged ideas for projects and activities.

“It is important to give students the tools and opportunity to develop their leadership skills and become a positive influence on their peers,” Neal added. “Our youth have talents and unique insights that can influence other young people to make healthy choices and to abstain from or stop using alcohol and drugs.”

CARES hosts a quarterly event for teens and Baby Boomers to play board games and in May, collaborated with area florists to put stickers on the boxes of prom corsages and boutonnieres; the stickers and four billboards now up in the county, bear the message of “Your decisions today impact your tomorrow.”

The coalition is funded in part by local donations and grants from the federal Drug-Free Communities program and the Dubois County Community Foundation. Since last fall, CARES’ fiscal agent has been the Southwestern Indiana Child Advocacy Center Coalition.

The CARES office is Suite 8 of the Center on Fifth, 505 W. Fifth St., Jasper. The office is
outfitted with a couch and comfy chairs as well as a stocked snack pantry for adolescents to just
hang out and chill. The space is available on weekdays during the summer and after school during
the academic year. Weekend hours will be added if requested.

The nonprofit’s staff are available to give student presentations and to speak with parent
groups and area civic organizations. They also head an adult coalition that always is looking for
new members.

To request a speaker or to learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact CARES at
812-827-8464 or DuboisCountyCARES@gmail.com.