Potential Group Screening

Screening for Potential Group Members There are several ways to screen for students who use and misuse drugs. The first is based on observation. Students who use drugs, specifically marijuana, have the tendency to embrace a drug-taking lifestyle. Having teachers privately identify students that may benefit from substance abuse prevention and interventions would aid the school counselor with finding potential group members. A second means of screening for potential members includes students’ personal and family narratives. Students who disclose that they have a desire to use drugs or have family members that use drugs make possible candidates for small group counseling. It is important to instill preventive measures with adolescents who have …show more content…
Studies have found that the Car Relax Alone Forget Friends Trouble (CRAFFT) Screening, the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) and the Teen-Addiction Severity Index (T-ASI) are the most comprehensive and inclusive assessment tools in predicting substance use and misuse among high school students. The six questions of the CRAFFT Screening looks to determine risky behaviors of taking drugs and drinking alcohol (Winters & Kaminer, 2008) and these six questions are based on each of the risky maladaptive behaviors in the assessment’s name. The DAST-10’s ten questions go into further detail regarding drug-taking behavior, emphasizing withdrawal, dependence and negative reactions to drug-seeking and correlates suggested actions to the degree of problems related to drug abuse (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2015). The third assessment, T-ASI, is a structured interview which measures how drug use have affected students in school, employment, family, social and legal domains (Winters & Kaminer, 2008). Utilizing these three assessments should sufficiently aid school counselors and liaisons in screening and determining appropriate candidates for substance abuse small group prevention and