This website is brought to you by Overdose Lifeline, an official Preventure provider in the U.S.

Skip to main content

Become a PreVenture Facilitator

PreVenture is a mental health and early intervention program for youth ages 12-17. Developed by Patricia Conrod, a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry at The University of Montreal and used around the world, PreVenture is designed to help youth learn useful coping skills, set long term goals, and channel their personality towards achieving them.

Overdose Lifeline is licensed to train facilitators in PreVenture in the U.S.

Download PreVenture OverviewGet Info

Already a trained Facilitator? Sign In

Today’s Youth Need You

23

percent

of adolescents ages 12–17 admit to illicit drug use

10

percent

of 12-year-olds admit to having tried alcohol

14

years old

is the median age of onset for illicit drug use

24

percent

of teens admit to misusing a prescription drug

Implementing PreVenture

in Your Community

If you are a teacher, mental health practitioner, counselor, social worker, and/or prevention specialist, you can become a certified PreVenture facilitator and bring this proven, evidence-based intervention to your community. Connect with a PreVenture team member at Overdose Lifeline.

“As a Certified PreVenture Facilitator, you will be able to make a valuable contribution towards helping teens understand how their personality impacts their life and assist them with learning skills to help them make the best possible choices.”

What to Expect

Unlike most universal programs that offer generic coping skills and address normative attitudes around substance misuse, PreVenture focuses expressly on promoting cognitive behavioral strategies that have been shown to improve mental health. The intervention is delivered to youth in a workshop format and introduces cognitive behavioral strategies and coping skills based on individual personality styles. Youth fill out a brief personality questionnaire (SURPS) which aligns them with the personality style most relevant to them.

PreVenture Intervention

1

Consent

Consent forms are sent out to the parents.
2

Screening

The intended target population complete the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) brief screening survey which identifies program eligible youth and their unique personality styles.
3

Eligibility

Eligible youth are informed confidentially in person or in writing and invited to participate in the brief workshops
4

Implementation

Two, 90-minute personality specific group workshops are held at least one week apart. The workshops utilize the evidence based curriculum to teach youth how to understand the connection between their personality style and their behaviors.

PreVenture Training Package:

Over a 2-day period you will learn about the evidence base and theoretical approach of Preventure and walk through a hands-on practical experience delivering the PreVenture program using Motivational Interviewing (MI) exercises and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles. Conducted online*

Upon completion of the full low fidelity facilitator training, you will be certified to deliver the PreVenture Program. For continued access to delivering the PreVenture Program, certification must be renewed annually on April 1st of each year

As part of your training, you will gain access to the preventure.us website which includes a personalized Facilitator dashboard with tools and support you’ll need to deliver the program successfully, such as:

  • Resources: consent forms, peer-reviewed articles, best practices, school information packet, etc.
  • SURPS (Substance Use Risk Profile Scale): overdose lifeline online tool to create, distribute, collect, and automatically score the SURPS
  • Database: containing each facilitator’s SURPS scores conducted over time

We encourage you to seek the resources available to you through the www.preventureprogram.com

Training and Certificate Fees:
  • 2-3 Day Training + Facilitator Manual
  • A facilitator certification cost is payable to PreVenture-CHUSJ/ and it must be renewed annually with the fee payable to PreVenture-CHU Sainte-Justine.
Optional:
  • High Fidelity Certification Additional $500/person
Trainee must complete one full workshop under supervision and will receive a feedback session

A facilitator can obtain high-fidelity certification if they undergo one round of supervision for one full workshop. These can be done in live settings with youth, or done in a mock facilitation. The facilitator would record their facilitation, then send to Overdose Lifeline for evaluation. The facilitator and Overdose Lifeline supervisor would then meet for 1 hour. High-fidelity supervision is not required for facilitation.

Pricing:
  • PreVenture 2.5 Day Training | $660/person
  • Facilitator Manual | $125/person
  • SUBTOTAL | $785/person
Get Info

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to have a clinical degree in psychology, counseling, or a similar field to be a facilitator?

These are the qualifications required to be a PreVenture facilitator:

  •  Facilitators must be either mental health professionals, teachers, counsellors, social workers and/or masters-level prevention specialists.
  •  Facilitators must be employed by an educational institution, a counselling institution and/or a government funded educational or health organization with a mandate to provide educational, mental health and/or behavioural interventions to youth.
  • Facilitators must be insured either personally or via their employer to deliver behavioural interventions to minors

OR

  • Facilitators must be independent mental health practitioners with a membership to a professional order/association/college and be certified and insured to deliver behavioural interventions to minors.

How many facilitators are needed to deliver the program?

We recommend there to be at least two fully committed facilitators within an organization or community. It is recommended that a community or organization consider the number of adolescents in their area, and base the number of facilitators on this information.

What time commitments are typical for facilitators in implementing PreVenture?

A facilitator should plan to help recruit participating organizations/schools, schedule and screen adolescents, and deliver both workshops for each of the four personality groups. On average, facilitators should plan to spend at least one-half day to screen and score students, and one day for each set of workshops. Time commitments will vary across regions.

Is consent required for adolescents to participate in PreVenture?

Yes, anyone implementing the program, including screening, is required to obtain consent from the parents of adolescents. Passive consent is recommended in order to allow for the maximum amount of participation in the program. Parents must be provided with adequate information regarding the program, its implementation, and any risks that may be involved. Please refer to your state and local laws for all applicable regulations.

Can PreVenture be implemented with elementary age students?

PreVenture is designed for adolescents ages 12-17, and thus is suited for middle-school to high-school aged students only.

Can students be placed in a personality workshop without being screened?

All students must be screened before they are placed in a workshop and workshops must be delivered in a personality-focused manner. This process is outlined during the facilitator training.

Can all students attend workshops?

Yes. If it is more appropriate for a particular context to include all participants in workshops, this is feasible. If there is a need, and resources are available to deliver to the whole population, facilitators can feel comfortable doing this. Alternatively, the program can be delivered in the traditional selective manner. This more selective approach targets 90% of the youth who will go on to develop clinically significant symptoms.

Do the student workshops have to be 90-minutes long?

90-minutes is the maximum time that should be spent during a workshop, however, workshops may take less time to complete. The time to finish a workshop session will vary on group size and student participation.

Can the workshops be broken up into short sessions, for example, three 30-minute sessions?

The recommendation is to deliver the program via two 90-minute sessions as was the case in clinical trials. However, depending on your population, it is possible to deliver the program in three 30-minute sessions or four 45-minute sessions.

What protections exist to prevent labeling of students eligible and participating in the program?

The screening process involves placing students in the workshop most relevant to their self reported interests and preferences. Workshop assignments are not revealed or discussed with anyone outside of the program facilitators. Students also establish and agree to a confidentiality agreement with one another at the start of the first workshop. The establishment of ground rules and building trust is an essential component of the program.

Can PreVenture be a program adolescents are referred to, or opted into by staff or family?

First and foremost, PreVenture is completely voluntary and a student should never be required to participate if they do not wish to. The workshops are designed to be facilitator mediated peer-to-peer skill building, and thus it is essential to the program that youth participation is voluntary.

Is there any follow-up after the two workshops are finished?

No, there is no other follow-up once workshop #2 is completed for each of the personality groups. The program is designed to be brief, while remaining effective. Screening – Workshop #1 – Workshop #2 – Done.

Curious about Becoming a Facilitator?