Prevention: 

“I believe if we confront facts and fears, we achieve real power and unleash a capacity for change.” ~Margaret Heffernan

What is Predictable is Preventable… that’s where YOU come in.

Substance Use/Mental Health Prevention – how Individuals, Families, and Communities can support it.

Communities are made up of sectors that when strategically aligned have proven to be successful when collaborating with one another in efforts to create a safe and healthy environment for community members.

A community that promotes coordination and collaboration can transform themselves and make efficient use of community resources and achieve real outcomes where each works together toward a common goal of bringing awareness through education, shattering stigmas by sharing stories, and providing resources commonly associated with substance use/mental health disorders.

Community Sectors below:

Community-Change.jpg

For more information on the Seven Strategies for Community Change

Even in the presence of the most favorable circumstances, the journey into and through the teenage years is a perilous period in lifespan development. A few of the most hazardous behaviors confronted during this period involve substance use/mental health concerns.

 While prevention is aimed at reducing substance abuse among youth and bringing awareness of mental health concerns is of utmost importance, over time, reducing substance abuse among adults is also important. Addressing the factors in a community that increases the risk of substance abuse and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse is equally important.

Individuals do not become involved with substances solely based on personal characteristics. A complex set of factors, such as institutional rules and regulations, community norms, mass media messages, and the accessibility of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, influences them.

When a multi-strategy effort is implemented, communities can contribute to achieving population-level change by focusing on multiple sectors to make a difference communitywide. Environmental strategies effectively modify the settings where a person lives, which plays a part in how that person behaves.

Prevention works when individuals, families, and community sectors come together to take action. Often, community problems/issues are too large and complex for any one agency, organization, or sector of the community. By mobilizing diverse sectors of the community to analyze data and implement strategies, communities can foster effective programs, policies, and practices to create reductions in substance abuse.

Substance use/misuse and disorders are complex, multifaceted problem(s) requiring involvement from all community sectors—from parents to healthcare, schools, and businesses.  Join parents, youth, health professionals, business leaders, law enforcement, and policymakers to protect young people from these dangers and transform communities into healthier places to live, work, and play. 

This is a CALL TO ACTION!

 Community Sector Involvement – Education is Empowerment

Keep in mind that the community sectors of prevention resources that are included are just that—suggestions. Trust your instincts. Choose ideas you are comfortable with, and use your style to carry out the helpful approaches. As individuals/ families/community members, we look to each other for guidance and support in making life decisions—including the decision on drugs and alcohol.  

Language binds us together. In matters both personal and professional, the words we choose have a lasting impact and effect on our impressions of ourselves and others.  The ADDICTIONary is a comprehensive glossary of key terms, some well-known and others not, concerning addiction and recovery.

You can access the Recovery Research Institute ADDICTIONary here. 

Parents - Prevention Supports

Substance Use Prevention starts in the family.  Our children need us to engage in prevention education for it to work.

When people start using at younger ages, the brain structure and function changes are very, very pronounced,” he explained. “If we could only get kids to postpone their first drink or their first use of drugs, we could greatly diminish the prevalence of addiction in the U.S. Addiction is a pediatric disease," says Dr. John Knight, founder, and director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at Boston Children's Hospital. When adults entering addiction treatment are asked when they first began drinking or using drugs, the answer is almost always the same: They started when they were young — teenagers," said Knight.

Healthy Children, Powered by Pediatricians. Drug Abuse Prevention starts with Parents; drug abuse prevention starts with parents learning to talk with their children about difficult topics. Then, the programs offered by your community (school, sports, and other groups) can support what families have started.

  • The NeuroWhereAbouts Guide puts at parents’ fingertips the developmentally appropriate prevention science they need to set children up for success from elementary school to college. Dr. Crystal Collier offers a validated neurodevelopmental approach to help parents raise their kids to avoid high-risk behaviors. In the guide, Dr. Collier shows what healthy brain development looks like, how risky behaviors can derail that trajectory, and how to keep development on track.

  • PreventionFIRST! The general public can use Healthy Hints as a free resource to help educate about important topics that pertain to the community’s prevention action. Some examples of the topics include Low-Risk Gambling, Heroin, and Three Ways to Find Treatment. Healthy Hints will briefly explain the issues and provide up-to-date information in a user-friendly format.

  • Genetic Risks— Dr. Blum coined the term Reward Deficiency Syndrome to explain the genetic function of all addictions in 1995.

  • The New Drug Talk / Song for Charlie. Fentanyl has changed the drug landscape, and we must change how we talk to kids about it. This site provides education, free tools, and expert advice to help California families connect and stay safe.

  • The Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research – resources for Parents.

  • National Institute of Drug Abuse – NIH. Family Checkup – Families strive to find the best ways to raise their children to live happy, healthy, and productive lives. Parents are often concerned about whether their children will start or are already using drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and others, including the abuse of prescription drugs.

  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA-NIH), make a difference and talk to your kids (booklet/guide) about alcohol. The booklet/guide is geared to parents and guardians of young people ages 10 to 14.

  • The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). Preventing Addiction Changes Everything. One way addiction and substance misuse can be prevented is through screening and early intervention. Prevention must begin during childhood and extend into later adolescence. Despite the benefits and availability of screening and early intervention tools, too few health professionals, school personnel, and social service providers routinely screen for tobacco/nicotine, alcohol, and other drug use.

  • Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Suicide prevention efforts are most likely effective when they use a systematic, data-driven process to understand the suicide problem, set clear goals, and prioritize activities most likely to make a difference.

    • Training: SPRC provides in-person training, online courses, webinars, and other virtual learning experiences.

  • Behavioral Health Awareness for Children and Families. Sign up for free seminars on Substance Use Disorders, Autism, Eating Disorders, and Behavioral Health Awareness for Children and Families. There are dozens of topics to choose from, and you’ll get tips, tools, and advice you’ll find accommodating. An expert leads each hour-long seminar. You can listen from the comfort and privacy of your own home. It’s your chance to get information that can be helpful for you or someone you love.

  • Lines for Life. Training is suitable for many individuals and organizations, including mental health professionals, schools, religious groups, military personnel, community volunteers, or anyone in a position of trust.

  • Youth Now. Sometimes, you don’t know where to turn to when it comes to basic information about drugs. Youth Now has collected information and links from trusted sources to help you get started.

  • Oregon Family Support Network, resources for families.

  • Drugs over Dinner. Change starts with an open conversation. Change almost always starts at the table. Drugs Over Dinner is a toolkit to plan, host, and moderate a conversation about drugs and addiction.

  • National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. 10 Prevention Tips for Parents

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH). Research supported by NIDA has shown the important role that parents play in preventing their children from starting to use drugs.

    • Principles of Substance Abuse Prevention for Early Childhood – A Research-based guide.

  • Responsibility.org. Conversations about alcohol happen every day, and a key ingredient should be “responsibility.” Since parents influence their kids’ decision to drink or not to drink, these conversations must happen early and often, starting when your child is in elementary school and continuing through middle school, high school, college, and beyond. Start a conversation.

    • Responsibility & Kids.

    • Responsibility & Teens.

    • Responsibility on Campus.

    • Drinking Responsibly & Adults – Virtual Bar, the latest science to help you not only get a better understanding of how different factors affect your blood-alcohol concentration – or BAC – on an individual level but also can help you see how your night could go depending on the food you eat, the water you drink throughout the night, and other important variables. It also helps give you a sense of how long it would take for your BAC to return to 0.00, which we think will surprise you.

  • Office of Adolescence Health (HHS), Parent and Family resources:

  • Prevention Action Alliance offers several programs that give parents, coalitions, colleges, universities, and other community members the information, education, and support they need to make positive change.

  • Parents Who Host, Lose the Most: Don’t Be a Party to Teenage Drinking educates parents about the health and safety risks of providing alcohol to teenagers and increases awareness of and compliance with underage drinking laws.

    1. Know! gives the parents and caregivers of middle school-age kids the education, strategies, and empowerment they need to raise children who are healthy, as well as alcohol, tobacco, and drug-free.

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Effects of Alcohol on your Health.

  • Get Smart about Drugs, DEA resource for parents, educators, and caregivers and to increase the public’s awareness of the dangers of using drugs. There are three major concepts of drug use prevention research at the core of this strategy: brain development, perceived drug use as harmful, delaying drug/alcohol use-substance use disorders are reduced.

    • Growing up Drug-Free: A Parent’s Guide to Prevention. As a parent, you can control many of your home's risk and protective factors. Remember that parents and caregivers are the most important role models in children’s lives.

    • Operation Prevention: Parents can join the conversation with this family discussion starter. Additional information on the warning signs of prescription opioid misuse and a guide to prevention and intervention empower families to reach out.

    • Just Think Twice provides credible information about the harmful effects of drug use.

    • Get Smart About Drugs provides valuable drug education information for parents, educators, and caregivers to help further identify drug use, drug paraphernalia, warning signs of drug use, and the harmful side effects of the most commonly abused drugs.

      • Campus Drug Prevention effort to support drug abuse prevention programs on college campuses and in surrounding communities.

  • Ask, Listen, Learn provides youth ages 9-14, their parents, and educators with information about the dangers of underage drinking.

  • SAMHSA, Underage Drinking Partners

    • Talk. They hear you! Underage drinking prevention campaign helps parents and caregivers start talking to their children early about the dangers of alcohol.

    • Too Smart to Start helps prevent underage alcohol use by offering strategies and materials for youth, teens, families, educators, community leaders, professionals, and volunteers.

City, County, State Organizations/Agencies

Oregon Organizations involved in reducing and supporting Substance Use/Mental Health Disorders

  • Basic Rights Oregon, will launch a youth justice program in the future.

  • Center for Dialogue & Resolution. The Center for Dialogue and Resolution is a leading provider of mediation services and education in Lane County. Whether you are an individual with a neighbor-related dispute, a business needing professional workplace mediation or conflict resolution training, or a community member interested in mediation training, we can help you with our services.

  • Clear Alliance, Children Learning through Education and Research – provides educational tools cited and sourced with evidence and science-based research.

  • Oregon Family Support Network is a statewide non-profit organization that supports families who are raising a child with significant mental health challenges. We provide education, support, and advocacy for individual families and support systems. Our services are community-based to meet the unique needs of families and, therefore, may look a little different in every community.

  • The Oregon-Idaho HIDTA mission is to facilitate, support, and enhance collaborative drug control efforts among law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations, thus significantly reducing the impact of illegal trafficking and use of drugs throughout Oregon and Idaho.

  • Marijuana use trends and health effects – Dept of Public Health, Colorado

  • Oregon Department of Transportation: Governor’s Advisory Committee on DUII

  • Oregon Recovers is an inclusive statewide coalition comprised of people in recovery–and their friends and family—uniting to transform Oregon healthcare to ensure world-class prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for Oregonians suffering from the disease of addiction. Within five years, Oregon will be known as the “recovery state.”

  • OLCC

  • State Law In Oregon: Social Hosting, What does state law say? Many well-intentioned parents think that letting their children drink in their home will, in the long run, teach them how to drink responsibly and prevent them from drinking elsewhere. Early consumption of alcohol in any context increases the likelihood of long-term problems.

  • Trauma-Informed Oregon is committed to supporting human service organizations and systems to recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on the workforce and the children, youth, adults, and families they serve. The resources on this page address several aspects of implementing trauma-informed care to improve the design of programs and services and the organizational context in which they are delivered. Community Response and Resources.

  • Tri-County Opioid Safety Coalition. Decrease opioid misuse and harm by coordinating the efforts of public health, medical, behavioral health, payer, and patient communities.

    • Oregon Pain Guidance. Encouraging other organizations to make use of these guidelines, including adapting them.

  • Oregon Health Authority, Drug Take Back, and Disposal

  • NAMI, Oregon volunteers bring peer-led programs to various community settings, from churches to schools to NAMI Affiliates. With the unique understanding of people with lived experience, these programs and support groups provide outstanding free education, skills training, and support.

  • Alcohol & Drug Policy Commission is an independent state government agency created by the Oregon Legislature to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state and local alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment services.

  • Clackamas County

    • Prevention Coalition (CCPC) is a collaboration of partners representing county government, schools, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement agencies, civic and volunteer groups, health-care professionals, and other stakeholders in the community who are interested in promoting healthy, safe communities and positive youth development.

    • Clackamas County Behavioral Health Supports the health of our communities through mental health and addiction services.

    • Building a Healthy Clackamas County

      • The Community Health Improvement Plan/Blueprint for a Healthy Clackamas County is our draft plan for allowing everyone to live healthier lives. This draft of the Blueprint reflects 15 months of work by our Public Health Division, residents, community organizations, and county leadership. It aims to improve our residents' health and quality of life by focusing on residents with the worst health outcomes to make our county more equitable.

  • Oregon City Together is committed to building opportunities for a healthy, drug-free future.

  • Tualatin Together Unites the community to engage, educate, and advocate for Tualatin’s youth and families to make healthy decisions.

  • Tigard Turns the Tides. Using strategies such as youth and adult education, social norms marketing, advocacy, and increased law enforcement, the Coalition has successfully worked to bring down alcohol use by Tigard Youth significantly.

  • Highland African American Youth Community Coalition (HAAYCC) is a non-profit organization that focuses on creating a healthy, drug-free community for all African-American youth.

  • Lines for Life, Preventing Substance Abuse and Suicide

  • Cardinal Families Health Action Network (HAN) brings health awareness, tools, and strategies to students and families. We promote healthy living and support families in making healthy lifestyle choices.

  • Keep Oregon Well (Powered by Mental Health Matters) is a public advocacy campaign and social movement designed to reduce the stigma surrounding mental and behavioral health, build a trauma-informed community, and give people the opportunity to learn more about mental health while standing with those who may be struggling with theirs.

  • Nat’l Alliance for Model State Drug Laws is a resource for governors, state legislators, attorneys general, local prosecutors, drug and alcohol professionals, health professionals, community leaders, the recovering community, and others striving for comprehensive and effective state drug and alcohol laws, policies, regulations, and programs.

  • Northwest Family Services offers many programs and services in the Portland metropolitan area. School-based programs include case management, after-school and summer programs, groups, and various services, including alcohol and drug, suicide, gang, and child sex trafficking prevention.

    • Vibrant Futures Coalition is a prevention coalition committed to serving the North Clackamas area. Our focus is on utilizing resources to educate the community, prevent access, and reduce underage drinking, marijuana use, and prescription drug abuse among our youth.

  • Oregon Impact provides educational experiences to end impaired and distracted driving. With an emphasis on teen drivers and those who ride with them, Oregon Impact works with middle schools, high schools & colleges in Oregon and SW Washington. It attends multiple community events yearly to open conversations and encourage good choices.

  • Stay True to You. BEING A TEENAGER IS HARD. Every year, it feels like there’s more coming at us. More choices. Bigger consequences. Parents. Teachers. Friends. When everyone has an opinion, it can be hard to hear myself think.

Civic and Volunteer Groups - Community, State and Public Health Support and Safety

What groups in local communities are focused on drug/alcohol prevention?  Let’s connect the dots.  There are also examples of how other states, counties, and cities support or combat SUD.

  • Knowing which civic and volunteer groups are in your community is very important. They are an enormous help and support to grass root efforts; below are just a few:

  • Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System (PDAPS) – Oregon. Unintentional drug overdose is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Administering naloxone hydrochloride (“naloxone”) can reverse an opioid overdose and prevent these unintentional deaths. State-specific naloxone-related legislation is a NIDA resource with maps and data on the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and Good Samaritan 911 Laws.

  • City of West Linn Youth Advisory Council. The mission of the YAC is to engage a representative group of West Linn youth to effectively serve the City through community-oriented discussions and projects to provide recognition and understanding of the issues that affect both them and their peers in West Linn.

National Organizations - Research, Support, Education

SAMHSA, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration. Promotes and implements prevention and early intervention strategies to reduce the impact of mental and substance use disorders in America’s communities.

  • National Registry of Evidence-Based programs and practices

  • Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit. This toolkit offers strategies to health care providers, communities, and local governments for developing practices and policies to help prevent opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Access reports for community members, prescribers, patients and families, and those recovering from an opioid overdose.

  • Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators

Business Community

Alcohol and drug use among employees and their family members can be an expensive problem for businesses and industry – let’s be part of the solution.

  • Mental Health First Aid at Work. Every Mental Health First Aid at Work training is custom-designed to fit your company’s needs and objectives. We work with you every step of the way to ensure that your unique training addresses your unique challenges.

  • Substance Use Employer Calculator. The Real Cost of Substance Use to Employers” tool, an authoritative, easy-to-use tool providing business leaders with specific information about the cost of substance use (including prescription drug use and misuse, alcohol use and misuse, opioid, and heroin addiction, as well as the use of other illicit drugs and marijuana) in their workplace based on the size of an employee base, industry and state.

  • Lines for Life. Trainings are suitable for many individuals and organizations, including mental health professionals, schools, religious groups, military personnel, community volunteers, or anyone in a position of trust.

  • Secondhand Drinking, the other side of alcohol misuse, is the negative impact of a person’s drinking behaviors on others.

  • The opioid crisis is draining America’s workforce. “I really feel that people with substance use disorders flourish once they get sober and get an opportunity to heal with available support. But getting that opportunity is the problem.”

  • Drug and Alcohol Deaths at U.S. Workplaces Soar – Deaths jumped more than 30% in 2016 as the struggle with a deadly opioid epidemic migrates to the workplace.

  • The Opioid Crisis comes to the workplace. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying each year from overdoses. It’s a grim trend that has touched almost every aspect of life—even, as the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicate, work.

  • How to welcome back a colleague who is in recovery. It can be awkward or difficult to welcome back a colleague who has been absent for reasons related to mental health. These issues, historically, have been taboo and are loaded with stigma. Knowing how to act toward a colleague who has returned from treatment for a mental health issue is hard. Do I ask about it? Do I pretend nothing happened? Do I say I hope they are feeling better? Usually, none of these options feels right.

  • SAMHSA, Drug-Free Workplace Programs. Legal requirements (by state), drug-free workplace toolkit, guidelines, and resources.

    • Prepare your workplace; make sure that your workplace is ready for your drug-free policy and program by informing, educating, training, and motivating stakeholders.

  • Not my kids, corporate lunchbox presentations. Inspiring positive life choices.

  • National Business Group on Health, Center for Prevention and Health Services. Employer Guide to Workplace Substance Abuse. Mental and Behavior Health – several leading employers and content experts focused on mental health and emotional well-being to identify top opportunities and barriers to improvement.

  • Trauma Informed Oregon is committed to supporting human service organizations and systems to recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on the workforce.

  • National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Work can be an essential and effective place to address alcoholism and other drug issues by establishing or promoting programs focused on improving health. Many individuals and families face many difficulties closely associated with problem drinking and drug use, and these problems often spill over into the workplace. By encouraging and supporting treatment, employers can dramatically assist in reducing the negative impact of alcoholism and addiction in the workplace while reducing their costs.

Healthcare - Screening Tools, Prevention Support & Resources

Surgeon Generals Report, Facing Addiction in America.

  • Kenneth Blum's clinically trialed and patented GARS™ Test is the first test to accurately predict vulnerability to addictive, impulsive, and compulsive behaviors, defined as Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS). Dr. Blum coined the term Reward Deficiency Syndrome to explain the genetic function of all addictions in 1995. RDS is now featured as a recognized psychological disorder in the official SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal Psychology (2017).

  • The Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research (CeASAR):

    • The CRAFFT Screening Tool is a valid, reliable, and developmentally appropriate tool for accomplishing the recommended yearly screening, and teens who screen positive can be referred to the ASAP program for comprehensive evaluation and treatment. Visits to primary care clinicians provide unparalleled opportunities to intervene with substance abuse problems relatively early in disease progression. Office or clinic visits also allow clinicians to discuss substance abuse prevention with patients and younger adolescents. In a recently published report, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed the important role that primary care providers can play in prevention, early detection, and referral to treatment for substance use disorders.

  • SBIRT stands for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment. A model for Addiction Prevention in Healthcare: The model encourages mental health and substance abuse screenings as a routine preventive service in healthcare.

    • SBIRT/SAMHSA: Resources for SBIRT are available online.

    • SBIRT, Oregon Primary Care Association, is an evidence-based practice to identify, reduce, and prevent problematic use, abuse, and dependence on alcohol and illicit drugs.

    • Prevention First works directly with those preventionists or providers, supporting their work with the tools, training, and resources needed to change lives effectively and build healthy communities.

  • NIDA has launched two brief online screening tools that providers can use to assess for substance use disorder (SUD) risk among adolescents 12-17 years old. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal screening in pediatric primary care settings; these tools help providers quickly and easily introduce brief, evidence-based screenings into their clinical practices.

    • NIDA Clinical Trials Network has unveiled a new scientifically validated, online screening tool designed to assess a patient’s risk for substance misuse and substance use disorder and assist the health care provider with prevention and treatment strategies.

  • Lines for Life. Training is suitable for many individuals and organizations, including mental health professionals, schools, religious groups, military personnel, community volunteers, or anyone in a position of trust.

  • World Health Organization, The ASSIST project – Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test

  • National Association for Children of Addiction. Pediatricians, adolescent medicine specialists, family practitioners, and others can advocate for appropriate community and school-based prevention approaches and educate patients and parents, ensuring that local programs are culturally relevant and appropriate for their communities and populations.

  • American Society of Addiction Medicine, Included are links to prevention resources that might benefit individuals in a medical or non-medical role in preventive or addiction medicine.

  • Dr. Christian Thurstone is one of about three dozen physicians in the United States who are board-certified in general, child and adolescent, and addictions psychiatry. He is the medical director of one of Colorado’s largest youth substance-treatment programs and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD), where he conducts research on youth substance use and addiction and serves as director of medical training for the university’s addiction psychiatry fellowship program.

  • National Association for Children of Addiction. Pediatricians, adolescent medicine specialists, family practitioners, and others can advocate for appropriate community and school-based prevention approaches and educate patients and parents, ensuring that local programs are culturally relevant and appropriate for their communities and populations.

  • Prescribe to Prevent: Here, you will find the information you need to start prescribing and dispensing naloxone (Narcan) rescue kits, including some useful resources containing further information about this life-saving medicine. We are prescribers, pharmacists, public health workers, lawyers, and researchers working on overdose prevention and naloxone access. We compiled these resources to help healthcare providers educate their patients to reduce overdose risk and provide naloxone rescue kits to patients.

  • Office of Adolescence Health. Healthcare resources, Screening.

  • National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws (NAMSDL) is a resource for governors, state legislators, attorneys general, local prosecutors, drug and alcohol professionals, health professionals, community leaders, the recovering community, and others striving for comprehensive and effective state drug and alcohol laws, policies, regulations, and programs.

  • American Pediatrics, Most likely, children in grade school have not begun to use alcohol, tobacco, or any other kind of drug. That is why grade school is a good time to discuss drug use's dangers. Prepare your child for a time when drugs may be offered.

  • Trauma-Informed Oregon Healthcare Standards Practice

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH), NIDAMED, Medical & Health Professional

  • Focus on Prevention to Cut US Health Care Costs

  • SAMHSA, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration

    • Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit. This toolkit offers healthcare providers, communities, and local governments strategies for developing practices and policies to help prevent opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Access reports for community members, prescribers, patients and families, and those recovering from an opioid overdose.

  • Walmart Launches Groundbreaking Opioid Disposal Solution

Legal Systems, Laws and First Responders - Support and Resources

Support, Training, and Resources for Legal Systems and First Responders

First Responders – Law Enforcement/School Resource Officers, Fire/rescue, Medics

Legal Systems and Laws

Educational/School Systems

Resources, Support, School Systems and other examples of prevention

Whole Child Framework to strengthen and unify

Whole Child Framework to strengthen and unify

The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model expands on the eight elements of CDC’s coordinated school health (CSH) approach and is combined with the whole child framework.  Health and education affect individuals, society, and the economy and, as such, must work together whenever possible. Schools are a perfect setting for this collaboration. Schools are among the most efficient systems for reaching children and youth to provide health services and programs, as approximately 95 percent of all U.S. children and youth attend school. At the same time, integrating health services and programs more deeply into the day-to-day life of schools and students represents an untapped tool for raising academic achievement and improving learning.

Collegiate Support

Media (Articles, Blogs, Journals, Magazines)

Articles

Blogs/Journals/Magazine

Youth

Connection is the best PREVENTION – be kind, brave, and YOU.

  • KnowYourNeuro. Most students do not drink alcohol, use drugs, or engage in risky behavior. Give voice to this majority by starting a movement and creating positive rights of passage. Learn more about high-risk behavior topics and find skills, answers, and support.

  • Above the Influence, Stay Original Be Yourself.

  • Youth Now in Washington. Your brain matters; every brain and body are different.

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH) Children and Teens, get your questions answered.

  • Opioid fact for Teens. You have probably heard much about the “opioid overdose crisis” in the news lately. But what are opioids? And why are they such a problem?

  • Resources for Teens

  • National Institute for Drug Abuse – Teens (NIDA for Teens). Get the latest on how drugs affect the brain and body—featuring videos, games, blog posts, and more. Brain and Addiction: the more you know, the more you’ll grow.

  • National Association for Children of Addiction. Have questions? Get answers. Just for kids.

  • Wait 21, Actions Speak Louder.

  • Girls, Inc. of the Pacific Northwest inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. We impact the communities we serve by equipping girls with the skills and confidence to access a bright and economically independent future.

  • The Herren Project. The Herren Project's mission is to assist in taking the first steps toward recovery and a life of sobriety, educational programs, and resources to increase awareness of the signs of addiction and bring hope for a better tomorrow.

    • Project Purple initiative was launched to break the stigma of addiction, bring awareness to the dangers of substance abuse, and encourage positive decision-making to navigate life’s challenges.

  • Prevention Source e-journal, Peers-leading-peers in substance use prevention

  • Northwest Family Services. Empowering Youth.

  • Rise Together is creating a movement of young people by encouraging students to speak up on the issues they care most about, breaking the silence around suicide, bullying, mental illness, drugs & alcohol.

  • Ten tips for Prevention for youth.

  • Teen Health, have questions, get answers—whole body health.

  • Drugs and Health Blog for Teens.

  • Crave 21. As a youth, YOUR choice to abstain from drugs and wait until 21 before considering alcohol can help reduce your risk for addiction by up to 90%. Join us as we campaign to educate and empower future generations to live free from addiction. The choices and habits we make in our youth heavily influence who we become later in life. Some of the best athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders attribute much of their success to the choices and habits they developed at an early age.

Faith Community

Resources and support for the Faith Community.  Learn how to implement programs, find resources, and support your community.