Green Mountain Prevention Project’s Teen Leaders

Since its inception in 1982, Green Mountain Prevention Projects (GMPP) has trained teens to be peer educators and leaders in substance abuse prevention in their schools and communities. Teens are selected from their schools to attend residential training retreats where they learn the skills and information necessary to carry the prevention message to their peers.

Teams from each school work with a school advisor to initiate or implement projects to discourage substance use and encourage a drug free lifestyle. The teens devise projects that are appropriate to the particular needs for their community. These projects range widely including such activities as: peer support groups, mentoring and tutoring programs, Drug Awareness Days/Weeks, cross age teaching, community dialogue nights and other learning opportunities.

Through the GMPP programs, approximately 400 teens are trained each year to be leaders in prevention. Each school group initiates at least three or four activities and each participant touches at least 75 peers with the prevention message. The volunteer educators connect with thousands of their peers each year and log more than 16,000 volunteer hours.