Making Change

Making Change is a substance abuse support group for young people ages 14–21 who are considering or committed to recovery. A 60-minute, open-ended weekly group that delivers information, motivation, and peer support, Making Change uses a structured format to address some of the most critical issues of early recovery for young people. Engaging young substance abusers and their friends in a challenging, but “participant-friendly” dialogue about choices, Making Change employs a consistent, but flexible, script to speak with young people in various stages of change. Created by Second Growth in 2004, the original group was initiated at the request of local teens looking for their own young people’s recovery support group. Since that time, Making Change has served over 120 adolescents from 20 towns in the Upper Valley region of VT and NH. Currently, the Making Change model is used by professionals to lead groups in other areas of VT (Middlebury) and NH (North Haverhill, Plaistow, Manchester, Littleton, and Hampton). This is a beginner’s group for recovery from substance abuse, which helps get young people thinking. Not AA or NA, but an experience that encourages 12-step involvement, Making Change is a starting place that engages youth in a dialogue about choices. An essential, but often overlooked intervention in a continuum of care, Making Change serves as a “half-step group” for some young people who are not ready to take the First Step. Making Change is a complementary resource that enhances the NA/AA experience for young people and promotes the greater success of agency or school-based counseling resources. Making Change is an accessible method for cultivating resiliency in young people, which reduces barriers to substance abuse services: Making Change is free, confidential, and requires no sign-up or ongoing commitment. Instead, it offers an open invitation for young people to simply show up and check it out. An active youth volunteer network helps provide transportation to the group for beginners or those who are ready to try again. Making Change is a substance abuse strategy that helps to create a sense of safety, purpose, belonging, and hope among a group of young people:

• Non-threatening language in an informal setting opens the door for young people to truthfully tell their own stories about substance use.
• Exploring with each other the potential impact of substance related choices before they are made.
• Engaging and motivating clients to develop life goals and action plans.
• Presenting the facts about specific risk factors for addiction in a teaching-without-preaching style.
• Identifying traps and triggers for relapse and the corresponding sources of safety and support for recovery.

Making Change was a featured workshop at the 2006 NH Substance Abuse Conference. Second Growth received a 2007 Service to Science Award by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention for evaluation of Making Change. In 2008, the further evaluation and expansion of Making Change has been funded by NH Charitable Foundation and an anonymous gift. Sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Grafton County Human Services