An Active Student Assistance Program:

Columbus, Indiana

The holistic approach of the Student Assistance Program (SAP) in Columbus, IN offers prevention, intervention, aftercare and much more for the community. The keys to its success lies in many areas:

developmentally appropriate programs start in kindergarten and last through high school.
community buy-in to the program. The SAP director is visible in the community and works closely with the law enforcement agencies, social welfare agencies and other organizations dedicated to the developmental well-being of youth.
the schools support the program by setting up policies to help students get help and to prevent students from taking advantage of the system.

Consistent with many SAP's, this one includes prevention, intervention and aftercare. For prevention, the school district uses various commercially available curricula. In the early grades, they focus on resistance. In middle school, the programs focus on resistance skills for alcohol and drugs and gang prevention. In high school, the focus shifts to problem solving skills and coping skills in addition to resistance.

Referrals for intervention are the bulk of the SAP activities. Director Phil Wasmuth reports that in the past fifteen years as director, he has seen over 3,000 students and only one has been referred twice. About 20% of the referrals come from the police and the other 80% from teachers, parents, and counselors.

Once a student has been identified as potentially needing help, the SAP director works to determine the problem. Generally, this involves talking to the student to assess if the problem is a lifestyle problem, a lack of decision-making skills, etc. Once this initial assessment is completed, the director determines whether the student needs outside help or if the SAP can help. The director emphasizes that he is not a therapist and sees his responsibility as getting help for the kids who need it.

If the SAP can handle the intervention, the student usually becomes involved in activities to build problem-solving skills. Sometimes the intervention will involve working with the families or making sure the student is no longer using drugs or alcohol. Often, the intervention involves participation in support groups. This is especially true for the children of alcoholics.

In more than half of the referred cases (148 of 258 last year), outside treatment was necessary. To offer assistance to everyone who needs it, grant funds help underinsured and non-insured families pay for the counseling. The funding for the grant comes from the fines collected from people caught driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI's).

For students returning from treatment (aftercare), the SAP director works hard to ensure a smooth transition back to the classroom environment. He works with the student's counselor as well as with the student to find a plan that will allow the student to succeed. Sometimes this means letting the student out of school early so that he or she can have a job or getting the student a tutor to catch up on course work.

The SAP also has some other programs that help kids to turn their lives around. For discipline problems in 6th-8th grade, the week-long PATH program helps build resistance skills and modify behaviors. At the high school level, suspended students are sent to a five day program at a local drug and psychiatric treatment center. While there, they do their homework and work on the problems that caused the suspension.

SAP Director Phil Wasmuth has a Master's Degree in Educational Administration. He helped developed and has worked with the Columbus, Indiana SAP since its beginning over fifteen years ago.

This document was last updated 8/13/97 by Chandra Hawley.
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