Prevention Services

Providence offers a community mobilization and development program known as “BreakAway”. This evidence-based program builds on the findings of William Lofquist, published in The Technology of Development: A Framework for Transforming Community Cultures. We promote youth opportunity development by fostering and facilitating partnerships among youth, parents, school faculty and staff, and other community members. All those involved in BreakAway focus their energies on creating conditions for successful community change. BreakAway targets the entire community and looks to youth as resources, rather than liabilities.

In the beginning phase of the project, Providence prevention staff meet frequently with key leaders in small groups to introduce BreakAway and to identify additional community members who need to be included in working to identify the conditions of greatest concern to the community. A special emphasis is placed on recruiting community youth to the planning table. Research supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAT) has found that school classroom prevention programs have been found to be most effective if they are based on the peer social influences model for primary prevention. Providence staff believe that youth must be intimately involved in describing, planning and acting upon visions and strategies to counter problems that impact directly on their lives.

Providence is dedicated to its focus on youth opportunity development, particularly leadership development. The BreakAway approach moves away from a focus on prevention of problem behavior, embracing the promotion of positive development through active engagement of youth and adults who create conditions for success in environments of listening and respect. The success of the program is tracked by an in-depth outcome study completed in collaboration with the University of Arizona. We have found that youth agree that they must be included in developing strategies to foster healthy, substance-free communities, and commit many hours of their own time to contributing to the success of the program.

The BreakAway program is currently available in Arizona.