Sponsored by I CARE Program
Since 1982, the I CARE Program has served Baton Rouge students and the wider community with vital substance use and violence prevention.
Because youth substance use and its associated risks are as big a concern for students and the community as ever, the need for I CARE is as real today as it was four decades ago.
While the most recent annual survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grade students across the U.S. showed promising declines in adolescent substance use, there is sobering news involving the use of illicit drugs. Adolescent overdose deaths doubled from 2019 to 2020, largely due to fentanyl overdoses, and have remained at that level ever since.
“We’re always working to stay abreast of the trends so we can manage the prevention,” I CARE Director Erin Pourciau-Bradford says. She says I CARE’s mission and vision have not changed in 42 years, but the way they execute them has. Technology has changed the approach, as has the need to use effective social-emotional coping strategies and trauma-informed approaches.
“Substance use is about more than the substance. It’s connected to many things. We need to understand what those things are, because they end up being the catalyst to bad decisions. We want to get people into a good space to prevent potential substance use and then abuse,” Pourciau-Bradford, a 20-year educator and counselor, says.
In addition to an advisory council and board, I CARE works closely with law enforcement and other community partners that include the Gardere Initiative, The Safety Place, local hospitals and highway safety officials.
The goal of I CARE is to equip Pre-K through 12th grade students and their families in participating public and non-public schools with knowledge and skills to make healthy lifestyle choices.
The program’s 20 specialists provide individual and group sessions, visiting every public school in the parish each week, with additional visits as the needs demand, and work closely with mental health and other staff at the schools. Specialists also respond to a variety of crises, such as a school or community shooting, suicidal situations or deaths, and incidents involving student stress, grief or anxiety.
“We’re able to sit with kids, face to face, and develop relationships with students to determine what actions need to take place to make their situations better,” Pourciau-Bradford says. She says it’s a luxury a teacher with a classroom of 30 students doesn’t always have.
“Our ultimate goal is to make students academically successful,” she says. “To be academically successful, you have to be well.”
The I CARE team meets with students upon request and referral and is available for presentations to public and private school audiences, as well as the broader community.
I CARE specialists are school system employees, and the program is publicly funded. A 10-year property tax renewal benefitting the I CARE Program is scheduled to be on the ballot for the May 3, 2025, municipal election.
Learn more about the I CARE Program at icare.ebrschools.org.
