When I worked at Kidz Ark therapeutic residential child care facility, I took required classes and earned level 2 certification for Colorado Addiction Counselor (now Certified Addiction Specialist). Since retiring, I have kept my certification active, which requires Professional Development (AKA continuing education) to renew every two years. Last year, I used “curriculum development” as one of the categories for the PD. I decided on writing a substance use prevention curriculum for churches to use with teenagers. To begin the process, I researched what is already available and found, to my surprise, that there is nothing like this on the market. At least I didn’t find anything online or in catalogs for youth ministry materials.
So now I have completed the course – Gear Up – and I’m offering at as a free PDF download for churches to use. (Anyone who wants can download it.) The link is in the sidebar to the right. Please pass this info (like this website’s address) to pastors, youth pastors, education ministers, etc. Perhaps even parents might like to have it for equipping their kids.
I would appreciate that anyone who uses the curriculum would provide me with their feedback – what they like, what they don’t like, what else might be needed or added, what kind of response from participants… This feedback can be left in a comment on this blog post. Thank you!