Program Overview

The Portland Public Schools Prevention Program of Portland, Oregon, developed the Chrysalis Middle School Program to demonstrate how school services can reduce the negative effects of childhood physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse¾including a decrease in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs¾among eighth-grade girls who have been victims of abuse.

Program Format

The Chrysalis Middle School Program is based on Project Chrysalis, a successful initiative that was developed for Portland high school girls through a High-Risk Youth Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This initiative provided intensive services and comprehensive support systems to serve high school girls who had experienced physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse. The program focused on reducing the negative impact of abuse by building girls' academic and life skills, including critical thinking, decision-making, goal setting, problem solving, and interpersonal communication skills. The ultimate goal of the program was to reduce the incidence of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug abuse among participants.

The Chrysalis Middle School Pilot Program, a 2-year program based on this successful model, recruited an ethnically diverse group of 20 eighth-grade girls per year who had a history of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse. The girls participated in a combination of weekly support group meetings and periodic large-group open sessions in which they discussed the effects of using alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs and learned about alternative health care practices such as yoga, reflexology, and stress management techniques. Through these sessions, the girls received emotional support and guidance from caring adults. School staff members who led the support groups and open discussions were taught to recognize the widespread effects of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and were trained in gender equity, cultural diversity, and how to create safe learning environments.

As part of the program, the girls participated in special activities, including an adventure-based challenge course, a Wellness Day Workshop, a "Girls Empowerment" self-defense and physical safety course conducted in collaboration with the Portland Police Bureau's WomenStrength Program, and a year-end celebration. These activities served as milestones to positively impact the participants' sense of self-concept, personal power, and autonomy.

Girls who participated filled out questionnaires about their attitudes, achievements, and behaviors both at the beginning and the end of the program. These questionnaires showed that fewer girls reported experimental use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana at the end of the program than at the start, although there was a slight increase in the experimental use of inhalants. By contrast, regular use of alcohol and marijuana increased from the pretest to the posttest, but regular use of cigarettes and inhalants decreased. Other results included a decrease in the percentage of girls who reported attempting suicide, a decrease in girls reporting signs of depression, and a decrease in girls demonstrating fighting behavior.

Based on the success of Project Chrysalis and the Chrysalis Middle School Pilot Program, the Portland Public School Prevention Program has received a grant from SAMHSA/CSAP's Community Initiated Prevention Interventions initiative to expand the program into 14 middle schools in order to gain a larger study sample and investigate its long-term results.

Media Outreach

While this program is well known among the local community of service providers, program coordinators have not conducted media outreach due to the sensitive nature of the abuse many participants have experienced.

Funding

The Chrysalis Middle School Continuation Program is funded through SAMHSA/CSAP's Community Initiated Prevention Interventions initiative.

Use of Girl Power! Products

Girls who participate in this program have recorded their reflections in Girl Power! diaries. Several of the positive messages in the Girl Power! diaries were actually written by girls who participated in the original high school component of this project.