The focus of the support component is to help troubled students to establish relationships with others and to learn the constructive use of free time. The focus is not to deal with issues from treatment, rather the goal is to assist the students and their families to move beyond the treatment process toward a successful school experience. Followup support for students is made available through support groups aimed at increasing the students' skills to overcome difficulties. The support groups are staffed by SCIP team members who continue to monitor student progress and assist them as necessary. This process provides the schools with an additional avenue to aid students in the successful completion of their schooling.
Schools are a reflection of their communities.
As a result, the SCIP process establishes a school community task force consisting of school personnel and a number of local community leaders. The assumption is that adolescent substance use is not solely an individual or family phenomenon but reflects community values, attitudes, and beliefs. Open communication between school and community members leads to the understanding that adolescent alcohol and drug use is not solely a school problem. Originally, the project included only junior and senior high schools, but recently a large number of elementary schools have joined the program. On average, 7.5 percent of a school's students were referred to SCIP over a 2-year period.