Program description:

• Substance abuse counseling and relapse prevention seminars
• Individual, group, and family therapy
• Peer support groups
• Activities that encourage bonding
• Referral to self-help meetings in the community
• Educational/vocational programs
• On-site Board of Education high school and GED classes
• Vocational/Educational training and placement
• Computer training
• Life Skills
• Anger Management workshops
• Values seminars
• Conflict resolution groups
• Self-esteem building workshops
• Mentoring program
• Health education workshops 
• HIV counseling
• Safe-sex education
• STD education/prevention
• Smoking cessation program
• Family mediation and reunification

• Community involvement

• Recreational/physical fitness activities.

Adolescent girls who smoke, drink or take drugs are at a higher risk of depression, addiction and emotional and educational stagnation.  And because substance abuse is often accompanied by risky sexual behavior, they are more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease or become pregnant.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), teenage girls are trying marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes at higher rates than boys.  The latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicates that:

• 1.5 million girls ages 12 to 17 started drinking alcohol in 2004, compared to 1.28 million boys
• Among the same age group, 730,000 girls started smoking cigarettes in 2004, compared to 565,000 boys
• 675,000 girls started using marijuana in 2004, compared with 577,000 boys. ¹

Although there is no single reason why girls are smoking, drinking and abusing drugs more, experts agree that today's girls live in an increasingly stressful environment; many have self esteem issues, are eager to date older boys or are recovering from physical or sexual abuse.

Consistent with the population profile of adolescent girls entering drug treatment nationally, the overwhelming majority of young girls who enter treatment at Odyssey House come from single parent homes where at least one parent is addicted to alcohol or drugs.  Girls in treatment typically abuse marijuana and alcohol, with a minority having tried cocaine and heroin.  Most report sexual abuse before the age of 16 and some past or present level of criminal justice involvement.²

But while there is ample data to document that millions of girls are at risk for substance abuse problems, there is little evidence available to empirically document efforts tailored especially to the unique needs of adolescent girls.  What evidence there is, however, does point to major differences between adolescent boys and girls in terms of drug abuse. 

For example, girls are more likely than boys to become dependent on drugs, and the earlier girls begin using drugs, the more likely their consequent problems will be severe.  Also, even among teens with low or moderate levels of risky behavior (experimenting with substance abuse or sex), girls are significantly more likely to experience symptoms of depression.³

¹ Girls and Drugs.  Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, February 2006.

² US Department of Health and Human Services. (2002). The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach for Adolescent Cannabis Users, Cannabis Youth Treatment Series, Vol. 4, Rockville, MD.

³ Gender Differences in Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Patterns of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior Among a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S. Adolescents, Archives of Women's Mental Health, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 139-150, 2006.

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