News & Press

January 31, 2014

 

MACON — Two teams of lawyers will argue a case of drinking and driving before a judge on Saturday. The attorneys, defendant and judge are local high school students, and though the trial is a role play, the lessons the students learn will be real. The courtroom experience is part of a curriculum to prevent underage drinking provided by River Edge Behavioral Health Center. The “trial” convenes at 10 a.m. in Room 179 of the Charles Jones Building on the Middle Georgia State College campus. 

 

“Data shows that underage drinking is a major issue in Macon,” said Etheria McFarland Dalton, River Edge Prevention Coordinator. “River Edge uses this research-proven curriculum to help students see consequences of underage drinking in context. Research shows that students who participate make better future choices related to alcohol use.”

 

The curriculum is part of the statewide Alcohol Prevention Program funded by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The River Edge Prevention Department has partnered with the Upward Bound Program at Middle Georgia State College to provide this education on the consequences of underage drinking. 

 

The drinking and driving portion of the curriculum concludes with the trial. The next section focuses Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and will open with a presentation at 11 a.m. on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome by Karen Kuehn Howell, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine.

 

About River Edge

River Edge has provided comprehensive mental health, addictive disease, and developmental disabilities services and supports in Central Georgia since 1950. Through multiple locations, River Edge currently serves more than 12,000 youth and adult residents of Bibb, Baldwin, Jones, Monroe, Putnam, Twiggs, Wilkinson and surrounding counties annually.  With special expertise to assist individuals with intensive support needs, River Edge empowers, encourages recovery and strengthens resilience. River Edge accepts Medicaid, Medicare, most private insurance and offers a sliding scale fee for individuals without insurance. River-Edge.org