A local drug prevention program is expanding outside of Butler County.
Reality Tour, a project of the Butler-based nonprofit CANDLE, Inc., will be presented to students in the Gateway School District in Allegheny County.
The presentation will be held at the Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Monroeville later this month.
Reality Tour is an evening experience is for parents and their children ages 10 and up to learn about the harmful effects of substance abuse. During the tour, parents and children are shown the consequences of one youths progressive choices to try drugs, listen to an education presentation on risk factors and family coping skills, as well as a guided assessment of strengths and gaps in healthy habits.
Each family is provided conversation starter tools and activities to implement at home. Law enforcement officer and a member of the recovery community will also be given the opportunity to share their experiences to the group.
Reality Tour, which was started by Executive Director Norma Norris in Butler back in 2003, has 18 replications of the program in Pennsylvania, as well as five replications in five other states and Canada. Norris says she started the program to do something about kids becoming addicted to drugs and dying from overdoses in her community.
For more information about this prevention presentation, visit RealityTour.org.
