Mentor Arabia, with the cooperation of the National Committee for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances in Oman, has held a five-day Training of Trainers workshop on the Unplugged program from November 13th till 17th, 2016 in Muscat. The training, which was led by the certified trainer Mr. Peer Van der Kreeft, aimed at certifying a new pool of social workers on Unplugged program to be implememted in Oman schools with the cooperation of the ministry of education.
Unplugged is an international school-based drug prevention program for adolescents between 12-14 years old, which aims at contrasting tobacco, alcohol, and drug initiation among pupils of schools. Unplugged, which is based on the cognitive social influence model, uses the “life-skills” approach and includes methods for problem solving; enhancing critical thinking and effective decision making; communication and goal setting skills.
The program, which was originally developed by the EUDAP and UNODC, was implemented by Mentor Foundation in five European countries and has shown effective outcomes in the delay of the onset of drug use among the age group involved. Therefore; Mentor Arabia adapted the training material to suit the context of the Arab world in content and in form and started implementing the Unplugged program in the Arab countries.
