High School Students in Addiction Recovery Speak at Town Hall Forum

WORCESTER, Mass. - July 31, 2018 - PRLog -- A forum welcomed the public to watch students who are enrolled in a drug addiction recovery high school in Worcester, Massachusetts talk about their past struggles with substance use disorders on July 26.

Local residents, health care professionals, counselors, and officials attended the event, which was led by six high school students at the Tri River Family Health Center in Uxbridge.

The teens who spoke at the town hall forum are students at the Rockdale Recovery High School, a public academic institution that has been established in the Greendale section of Worcester for almost three years and only accepts students who are recovering from substance use disorders.

It features staff members who are focused on fostering a respectful and safe environment for the teens looking to sustain their sobriety.

The representatives of the high school emphasize that they provide the students — who are between the ages of 14 and 22 — with a curriculum that is rigorous and has firmly set standards.

Staff at the recovery school — which is the only one for teenagers and young adults who are recovering from substance use disorders in central Massachusetts — works diligently with each student's school district to make sure that each teen is keeping up with local academic requirements.

To remain at the high school, the students are required to stay away from drugs. The staff members monitor the students closely and drug tests are administered regularly.

The students who are found to have relapsed need to leave the high school and go through a drug detox program, a sober living or transitional home before they can be readmitted by the school.

Most of the students who spoke expressed that they believe that the fact they have been able to attend the school has been what has kept them alive.

Educational leaders from other parts of the U.S. also seem to believe in the potential of the model used by the Rockdale Recovery High School and while American teens become increasingly affected by the opioid epidemic, more and more drug addiction recovery high schools are set to open through the country.

http://addictionnow.edublogs.org/2018/07/31/addiction-rec...