Coping and Support Training (CAST) is a small group program for at-risk youth that has demonstrated decreased suicide risk factors and reduced alcohol and hard drug use, among other positive outcomes, in adolescents. CAST is conducted over 12, 55-minute sessions. It can be delivered in any youth-serving agency by trained teachers, counselors, social workers, or others with similar experience. The program has been selected as a model program by Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is listed on SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. It is identified as a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Promising Practice.

CAST is a Tier 2 intervention within the PBIS framework and a Selective program, per the Institute of Medicine; that is to say, a program designed for groups at risk of problem behaviors. CAST participants in several National Institute of Health (NIH) funded studies saw significant improvements, including: 1) Sustained reductions in suicide-risk behavior (65.0%) and depression (44.0%); 2) Declines in anger control problems (24.0%); 3) Reduced hard drug use (62.0%); 4) Reduced alcohol use (16.0%) and drug use control problems (33.0%); and 5) Enhanced and sustained higher levels of problem-solving coping (24.0%), personal control (24.0%), and family support (27.0%) (Eggert et al., 2002; Eggert et al., 2001). Importantly, CAST has been proven to be effective for all ethnicities and genders and in urban settings (Eggert et al., 2001). As part of the CAST Tier 2 services, parents or guardians of students in CAST will be invited to participate in the CAST parenting program called Family Engagement.