It takes six months or more to show “significant changes. . .recovery and maintenance can be small steps over a long period of time, before a child can turn their life around. Most get into trouble initially when they are 9 to 10 years old,” said Connell, through the use of drugs and alcohol.Early intervention is the key, and a full-time PDAP counselor is working with the SPFRC on youth exhibiting troublesome behaviors; in addition, an after school program has been developed that is proving successful and is geared to all students offering education, interplay and prevention. An emphasis is also placed on self-esteem and other life choices issues.“We offer a whole spectrum of programs to help families and kids,” said Connell. “But I would see us grow, our services expand even more in Santa Paula,” and the river valley area.
Palmer Drug Abuse Program
director tells Rotary of efforts
February 25, 2000
Santa Paula News
Martine Hernandez, executive director of the Santa Paula Family Resource Center/Youth Services Center, will be honored by the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, members of the Santa Paula Rotary Club learned at a recent meeting.
Ginny Connell, executive director of PDAP, was the featured speaker and talked about the program’s history and present activities in the area, including Santa Paula. In addition, she announced that Hernandez will be honored at the organization’s upcoming Annual Celebration of Life fundraiser.Connell, a MFCC who joined PDAP in 1991, noted that Rotarian Owen Bird has volunteered his accounting services to PDAP, which serves youths from throughout Ventura County.PDAP started in Texas in 1971 as a teenage drug treatment program and caught the interest of entertainer Carol Burnett in 1980 when she sought effective treatment for her daughter. PDAP “started her daughter on a clean and sober path,” said Connell, and Burnett convinced the organization to start a branch in Los Angeles, now defunct.The Ventura County PDAP is a United Way agency and relies heavily on donations to provide and expand programs. The outreach program has been expanded, but “there are many troubled children in Ventura County,” Connell noted. “Many we serve are very troubled kids,” with serious problems.Many of the program’s counselors are formerly troubled kids who relate well to those they serve; Oxnard College has an addictive studies program that is being well utilized to fine tune counseling, she added.
