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Protecting You/Protecting Me®

Protecting You/Protecting Me® (PY/PM) is an evidence-based prevention curriculum for elementary students in grades one through five (6 to 11 years old). Designed to reduce alcohol-related injury and death in our Nation's youth, PY/PM:

  • Is proven to change students’ knowledge about their brains and personal development
  • Improves elementary students’ vehicle safety skills: their ability to protect themselves when they have no option but to ride with an adult who is not alcohol-free

The Curriculum

  • Incorporates the latest research on human brain development
  • Focuses on the immediate risks of using alcohol before age 21
  • Includes parental involvement activities

Recognition

  • Model Program: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse State Wide Replication Program
  • Endorsed by the National Elementary Principals Association
  • Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics

Intended Population

The target population for PY/PM is the universal population of students enrolled in grades one through five in elementary school. (PY/PM is designed to be taught each year over a 5-year period as students progress from first to fifth grades.

Benefits

  • Increases non-use attitudes and decisions regarding underage alcohol use
  • Increases knowledge about the human brain and immediate risks posed by exposure to alcohol during development
  • Increases awareness of the law and positive attitudes toward the use of rules and laws
  • Increases refusal and self-protection skills with regard to riding with impaired (unsafe) drivers
  • Increases media literacy and ability to resist advertising appeals
  • Increases stress management and decision-making skills

How It Works

Protecting You/Protecting Me is a 5-year continuum of interactive classroom modules providing 42 lessons (8 lessons in each of grades one through four and 10 in grade five) and 40 required reinforcement activities (8 in each grade) that promote students' ownership. PY/PM is designed to be infused into a school's core curriculum, and each lesson carefully integrates several standard educational objectives, including those related to health behaviors and information, personal and interpersonal skills, and identifying influencing factors.

The curriculum addresses eight topics:

  • Our Brain
  • Growth and Development
  • Health and Safety
  • Rules and Laws
  • Friends
  • Choices and Decisions
  • Media Awareness
  • Communication (especially with adults)

PY/PM's interactive and affective teaching processes include role-play, small group and classroom discussion, reading, writing, story telling, surveys, art, and music. All 42 lessons are correlated to educational achievement objectives.

Rates:
Grades 1–4, 8 sessions each: $400/class level
Grade 5, 10 sessions: $500/class level