keepin’ it REAL teaches youth to think critically and communicate effectively. The lessons cover risk assessment, decision making, where to go for support, and communication skills such as conflict resolution and drug refusal. REAL stands for the resistance strategies - Refuse, Explain, Avoid, and Leave - that teens can use to negotiate drug offers. These strategies are based on the narrative stories from thousands of adolescents describing the teen world in their own words, especially their experiences with offers of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other drugs.

The multimedia, culturally grounded middle school prevention program consists of ten school lessons and five videos developed by kids for kids.  This is following by a series of “boosters” that reinforce the program. The keepin’ it REAL curriculum has been tested by researchers with thousands of middle school children and has been shown to be effective in reducing adolescent drug use.

Recently, DRS team members have turned to the needs of rural communities. While rural youth are at risk for many drugs, their needs have not been met by any of the existing curricula. The keepin’ it REAL Rural project is designed to fill this need by describing the social pressures the rural youth feel when substances are offered and develop an intervention for them. Read More about the Rural program...