Reconnecting Youth (RY) is a program that helps high-risk youth succeed in school and decrease drug use, anger, depression, and suicidal behavior. The school-based program is designed for middle and high school-aged students. The program helps students develop skills and strategies for dealing with risk factors associated with school, peers, self and family. The program curriculum uses small group skills training in order to enhance personal competencies and social support resources. The lessons are fast-paced and interactive, incorporating many different learning styles. The students learn life skills that bolster protective factors associated with self-esteem, decision-making, personal control, and interpersonal communication. The RY class is part of the school curriculum, meeting daily or on a block schedule, and is offered for credit and graded.

RY is a Tier 3 intervention within the PBIS framework and an Indicated program, per the Institute of Medicine; that is to say, a program designed for students who are already exhibiting signs of academic struggles. The RY 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 and has been identified as a Promising Practice by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) rated RY as a program with evidence of effectiveness. Students completing the RY class experience increased school performance, increased mood management, decreased drug involvement, decreased suicide risk, and increased social and emotional controls such as personal control, problem-solving and coping (Eggert, et al., 1994, Eggertt & Herting, 1991).