Family Matters is a prevention program aimed at helping families prevent underage alcohol use and tobacco use. The program, available in both English and Spanish, is made up of four informational booklets mailed to parents at home. Each booklet has information about drugs and alcohol and includes fun activities to do with your teen. After receiving each booklet, participant families are contacted by a health educator to go over the booklets and to answer any questions they may have. The program typically takes fifteen weeks to complete.

Dr. Karl E. Bauman, professor at The University of North Carolina, created the Family Matters program. The program was first piloted in 1996 with families across the United States. Families were randomly selected and after several evaluations it was concluded that Family Matters could reduce the prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use by providing parent training, developing resistance skills in teens, and by developing family strengths. As a result of these findings, Family Matters is now recognized as a model program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

GUIDE, Inc. began implementing the Family Matters program in the spring of 2006 to families in the Lilburn Middle School district. The program continues to be available to families in the Lilburn area, however, if you are interested in participating, but do not live in this area, please contact our offices in order to set up the program.

For more information about Family Matters, please contact Ivelisse Méndez at 678.377.4133 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it