A Tricky Situation

Overview

When you suspect your brother has a problem with alcohol abuse, you struggle to understand the problem, support your family, and help other people in your school community to better recognize the signs of addictions.

Learning Objectives

To better understand the complex problems of alcohol abuse, students should be able to:

Describe the health effects of alcohol abuse on organs of the body.
Explain behavior indications that could point to substance abuse.
Describe issues surrounding the difficulties of talking with someone about his drug abuse.
Describe the social, emotional and mental health effects of alcohol abuse on the user and his family and friends.

Scenario

“Shawsha, what am I going to do?” said Nikky to her best friend. “I know I said I wouldn’t tell Mom and Dad about seeing my brother drinking, but I’m getting really worried about him. I don’t even know him anymore! Chris gets so mad sometimes, but other times he just sits and stares. He told me that he doesn’t drink that much, but I know when he stays in his room or goes to Joe’s house most of the weekend, he’s wasted!”

“Nikky, you promised him you wouldn’t tell! You can’t tell now or he’ll never forgive you. Your mom and dad will freak out and you’ll cause so much trouble. Chris will ever speak to you again. I know my brother would never speak to me if I did something like that.”

“Shawsha, he’s gotten worse. His grades

are bad now and they used to be so

important to him. He wanted to get into Cal

State University with a good scholarship

and his grades are so low now that he

probably can’t get in, let alone get a

scholarship. My family can’t afford to pay

for it if he doesn’t get a scholarship and he

doesn’t have a chance now.”

“You can help him more if you don’t cause all that trouble. I’m telling you—don’t rat on him!” whispers Shawsha as Nikky’s mom comes into the room.

“I’m sorry, Shawsha, but you have to go home now,” says Nikky’s mom.

“What’s wrong, Mom? You look awful!”

“Nikky, your brother just called from the police station. He has been arrested for driving under the influence and has caused a bad accident. They’re not sure if the people in the other car will make it or not. We have to go down to the police station and see about getting him bailed out and find out about those poor people. I just can’t believe this. I can’t believe this has happened.”

Later…

The news of Chris’s arrest and the possible deaths of the three people in the other car hit your community hard. In your state, Chris could get up to 20 years in prison for vehicular homicide. Students at your school have a lot of questions and are not getting a lot of correct information. All kinds of rumors are floating around.

Your health classes review alcohol abuse and the school had planned a drug awareness program even before this tragedy. Now that it is a real-life situation in your world and not just another chapter in a health book, students may take it more seriously.

Your school guidance counselor asked students if they wanted to participate in the drug awareness and prevention program. You and your friends think this is an especially good idea now.

You and some classmates volunteer to work on an alcohol abuse presentation as part of the school’s program. You want to be a part of the program so you can help other students who may be in the same situation. You want to help students who may be abusing alcohol and also help family members like Nikky who didn’t know what to do about her brother’s alcohol addiction. Just maybe some of them will relate more to this sad case than they did when they discussed alcohol use in health class.

School organizers want students to take an active role in the program and they enthusiastically agree to your group’s participation. Now, you and your friends have to plan your program.

What will you tell students about alcohol abuse? Make an outline for the topics and information that you want them to know. You know you won’t talk about Nikky and her family directly, but you’ll feel comfortable talking about the issues surrounding alcohol abuse if you can find out more about the issue.

Your Tasks

● Decide on a plan that you would use to talk to someone you suspect of having a problem with alcohol abuse. Be specific with your ideas.

● Make a presentation for the school assembly that will provide information about the effects of alcohol abuse on the body. Include both short-term and long-term effects.

● Research alcohol abuse to prepare for your presentation. You can use any kind of presentation aid available to you such as PowerPoint or posters. (Your teacher may have other requirements.)

●Be prepared with data to back up your presentation. Researchers track trends, use, locations, ages, and many other factors as they study the incidence of drug abuse. Data may be a powerful tool to help students understand the problem.

● Be able to explain the social and emotional consequences to an addict’s life. (How does alcohol abuse affect a person’s social life? Can he/she keep the same friends? Can he/she participate in the same activities such as sports or music? How do you think this makes a person feel?)

●Be prepared to answer the questions presented in this module.

●Be prepared to answer the questions from your classmates or teacher as they play the roles of other students or teachers at the school who will be interested in finding out about alcohol abuse and how to cope with it.

Guiding Questions:

1. What are the effects of alcohol abuse? Explain the effects of alcohol on the various body systems. Be sure to list short-term and long-term effects.

2. Nikky saw her brother drinking, but what are some other signs that pointed to her brother being in some kind of trouble? What are other signs to look for?

3. How could Nikky have approached the problem of her brother’s drug use?

What could she have said or done? Should Nikky have told her parents about her worries? Create a list of actions that Nikky could have done or discussions Nikky could have had with Chris, her parents, and other people that could have helped the problem. Be specific. List the persons and the approaches you would use if you were in this situation.

Include your approach as part of your presentation to the class. Other students may have questions or comments about your presentation. They may also have different ideas. Be prepared to talk about why you think your approach will work.

4. Chris had plans for his future and was working toward them. What is Chris’s future looking like now? Explain your conclusions.

5. What kinds of treatments are available to help someone overcome an alcohol addiction?

Support material for this module includes:

Adolescent Brain Development and Addiction

Abuse and Use-What's the Difference?

Get the Facts-Alcohol

Internet Resources-Alcohol