About

Rock In Prevention (Rock) was founded in 1990 by Pat McManus, a National Certified Addiction Counselor (NCAC), along with television executive Ray Johnson. The Iowa Broadcasters Association was the founding sponsor.

Prior to establishing Rock, Pat counseled severely addicted teens in a hospital treatment center and witnessed the devastating effects of alcohol and drug use.

Pat worked passionately to help the teens rebuild their lives.

From the teens’ suggestions, Pat determined that the professionals at Rock should train local high school students as mentors, and use music to teach younger students the methods and skills to make healthy choices.

Neighborhood by neighborhood, Rock has now helped more than 1.5 million children and adults since 1990.

Rock has developed fun, interactive workshops which teach alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention, bullying prevention, and character education. All programs are evidence-based and backed up by multi-year research from Iowa State University on program outcomes. Each program also includes Classroom Follow-Up Guides and Family Follow-Up Guides, with CDs that help comprehensively reinforce the skills taught at our workshops, both at school and in the home.

We have also introduced Rock PLUS, a music based, health and wellness, personal and social skill curriculum that increases parental involvement in their child’s education.

Additionally, The Richard O. Jacobson Foundation has awarded Rock a large grant to create a long term reserve fund to help keep costs down for schools.

Rock has been honored as one of the 20 best prevention programs in the US by Drug Czar General McCaffrey. The award was given on behalf of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Today, Rock In Prevention is excited about making new discoveries and will continue to connect the dots of increasing parental involvement, student supports, guidance, literacy and the academic goals of schools to help children live to their fullest potential.

Rock In Prevention's newest program, Rock Digi, is an online curriculum that uses the power of music to teach Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and life skills for success for grades 2-12. The curriculum teaches topics such as empathy, accepting others, self-acceptance, anger management, pursuing passions, coping with grief and loss, building healthy relationships, and other topics that help students to be their authentic selves and accomplish their goals.