What SLS does
Since 1982, SLS has done one thing: put prevention in the hands of the students who live it. This is what that work looks like — how it works, the issues students lead on, and the evidence that it works.
40+ years · 260k+ students trained · independently validated by Wayne State University
What makes Students Leading Students special?
Student-led, adult-supported prevention
SLS runs one thing — student-led prevention. It works because everyone around a young person has a part to play.
Students lead it
Trained as peer educators and leaders, students run the prevention work for the people most likely to listen — each other.
Educators guide it
Staff advisors receive full SLS training and ongoing, direct support to back their students every step of the way.
Families reinforce it
Parent programs help families carry the same prevention messages at home, so what students learn is echoed where they live.
Two ways to bring it to your school
Start a student-led chapter
Students lead prevention work with support from a trained staff advisor.
Explore chapters →Bring SLS curriculum and training to your school
SLS staff deliver evidence-based prevention programs aligned with Michigan standards.
Explore curriculum →Trainings we developed and deliver
Beyond chapters and curriculum, SLS delivers its own signature trainings to any student group — built in the field with students, not licensed from anyone else.
Peer Resistance Skills
High schoolers trained to teach resistance skills to 5th graders — peer pressure, and saying no to alcohol, vaping, and more. Two sessions, around 11 hours total.
Peer Refusal Skills
A two-session student favorite: high schoolers trained to teach peer refusal skills to middle schoolers — concepts and lesson first, then practice with feedback.
3-Day Leadership Institute
For Student Council, National Honor Society, or coalition youth boards, and open to all students 13+ in summer. Leadership style, communication, teamwork, PR, and service learning.
Spokesperson Training
A one-day training for the leaders of leaders: how to speak effectively about your student group in any setting — the media, school board, faculty, and community.
The Four Pillars of Prevention
SLS brings intention to practice. The Four Pillars are the backbone of every chapter’s work — a nationally recognized, whole-child approach to prevention for students ages 11–19.
Chapters empower and challenge students to engage their peers, build relationships, and form connections through healthy, safe behaviors. Pro-social young people put innovative strategies into practice that model healthy choices, ATOD resistance, personal growth, and helping others. A well-balanced chapter is grounded in science and models clear roles for students and adults alike.
Chapters offer consistent, ongoing education and support so students understand the outcomes of risk-taking behaviors that work against their health, safety, and life goals. Students share high-quality information with their peers to reduce and delay ATOD use, address bullying, promote safe driving, and build the school connectedness a peer-led approach nurtures.
Chapters deepen students’ understanding of the value of others in their lives. Students gain training in leadership, communication, negotiation, decision-making, teamwork, planning, goal-setting, and message marketing as they run activities that influence peers and change risk-taking behavior. Along the way they build time management, emotional health, problem-solving, and resiliency — and become trainers themselves.
Natural social bonds are put to work, with a commitment to do what is right for students above all else. Advisors help establish an environment of acceptance and inclusiveness where students can lead. Traditions, rituals, and ceremonies bond chapters and encourage peer mentoring, while meaningful participation contributes to student-led health, safety, and social-justice opportunities.
Prevention topics students can actually carry to their peers
SLS equips students to lead on the contemporary issues shaping their lives — they learn the facts, then run the campaigns, workshops, and conversations that reach their peers.
Pick any topic to jump straight to it on Learn & Lead, or browse the full index.
Proven, independently validated
Recognized by SAMHSA, independently validated by Wayne State University (2011–2018 outcome study), and aligned with Michigan Department of Education standards.
See the full research →Everything builds toward the Conference
Each spring, chapters from across Michigan come together for the SLS High School Conference — three days of peer-led workshops, leadership training, and a statewide network of students carrying the same work back to their schools. It is the year’s convergence, and the payoff the rest of the program builds toward. The next one is the 40th, in Bay City, March 2027.
Bring student-led prevention to your school
Tell us whether you’re interested in starting a chapter, bringing SLS curriculum to your students, or learning more about the model.
Already know your path? Go straight to Chapters · Curriculum · Trainings & Workshops · For Funders