Opioid Abatement Education Plan

Opioid Abatement Education Plan (OAEP)

The Opioid Abatement Education Plan addresses the opioid epidemic by educating students, parents, school employees, and student-athletes on the dangers of drug use and preventing opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction. The project aims to provide all K-12 students across the Commonwealth with evidence-based opioid abuse prevention programming—specifically, Botvin LifeSkills Training—which not only raises awareness and provides education but has also been proven to significantly reduce the risk of opioid use, misuse, and abuse.

Supporting Governor Glenn Youngkin's Right Help Right Now Initiative

The opioid epidemic is both a national security concern and a serious public health emergency. As a result, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order 26, effective May 9, 2023, which directed the launch of a comprehensive fentanyl-fighting strategy across public safety, education, and treatment sectors. The Executive Order came on top of the Governor’s Right Help, Right Now plan, which includes a critical goal to reduce opioid overdoses in Virginia by 20 percent. The Opioid Abatement Education Plan is a statewide effort by VDOE to support the Governor’s plan, First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin’s It Only Takes One campaign, and the One Pill Can Kill Virginia campaign, led by Virginia Office of the Attorney General Jason Miyares and First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin.

What Is Botvin Lifeskills Training?

Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) is an evidence-based substance abuse and violence prevention program that is uniquely designed to be flexible and interactive. The program can be taught either on an intensive schedule (two to three times a week) until the program is complete, or on a more extended schedule (once a week until the program is complete). Participating teachers and staff will spend 6-8 hours in training to become certified to deliver Botvin LifeSkills in classrooms. The training is virtual and asynchronous to be completed on the trainee’s schedule within a 6 day period. It can be completed in one day or over a few hours each day.

The LST program has been extensively tested and proven effective at reducing tobacco, alcohol, opioid, and illicit drug use by as much as 80%. Long-term follow-up studies also show that it produces prevention effects that are durable and long-lasting.

Interested In Participating?

We are actively onboarding interested Virginia teachers, division-level instructional support staff and specialists, school-based mental health professionals, school nurses, and school administrators to serve in various roles in the program. Each program participant delivering Botvin is supported with a stipend to cover their time training, and each steering committee member is supported with a stipend to cover their year of recruiting and supporting teachers. The following roles are available:

• Serve on the steering committee. This leadership role supports teachers delivering Botvin LifeSkills in your division and serves as a liaison between those teachers and the Opioid Abatement Education Program Staff.
• Participate as a teacher trained to deliver the Botvin LifeSkills program directly to students.  
• Participate as a school based mental health professional, school nurse or school resource officer trained to deliver Botvin LifeSkills to students and as a support for teachers delivering Botvin LifeSkills in your school.  

Contact Us

Reach out to us with any inquiries or to receive more information about participating.

• Nenneya Shields, OAEP Grant Manager – Nenneya.Shields@doe.virginia.gov

Our Team

The Opioid Abatement Education Program includes the VDOE staff, cross-sector partnerships, teachers and a leadership body of staff and administrators.

Paid for by a grant from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA).