This paper was developed to be responsive to the coalition field. It provides evidence to support their use of environmental strategies to address substance abuse in their communities. Environmental strategies are used to change the context (environment) in which substance use and abuse occur.
Review this thematic paper about the Social Determinants of Mental Health to gain knowledge about the interacting forces that shape individual and collective levels of mental health and well-being, and the actions that can promote and protect good mental health! This paper provides a life-course perspective approach, demonstrates how risk exposures in formative stages of life can affect mental well-being many years later.
Knowing what works in prevention, and what doesn’t, is vital to keeping young people from developing serious and life-long issues with addiction, as alcohol and other drug abuse remain the problem behaviors contributing to the most serious problems facing our communities today. In fact, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse estimates the U.S. spends more than half a trillion dollars each year responding to the consequences of substance abuse and addiction. As prevention professionals and the stewards of our field, we know good intentions are not good enough for selecting and implementing prevention strategies. We are ethically obligated to use the knowledge of what works if we want to protect students from initiating drug use or developing addiction.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education released Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline. This resource for schools helps to create positive, safe, and supportive environments that can prevent and change inappropriate behaviors. This guidance also recommends using suspension only as a last resort for serious violations. In fact, school suspension can have long-term impacts. Students who are suspended miss time in the classroom and are at risk for not graduating on time, repeat a grade, drop out, or become involved with the criminal justice system.6 Suspensions also affect a greater proportion of students of color, students receiving special education services, students from low-income families, LGBTQ+ students, and male students. Most young people who vape want to quit. Suspending students who violate a school’s tobacco-free policy is unlikely to help them quit tobacco use, and could alter their academic and future goals. Because young people have been unfairly targeted with marketing tactics, the science of addiction, and long-term consequences of suspension, schools should provide a supportive environment and encouragement to quit using tobacco products, not suspension.
Most people start using tobacco in their pre-teen and teen years, a time during which a youth’s brain is still growing, making it easier to get addicted to the nicotine in tobacco. That’s why it’s important to educate youth about the dangers of tobacco and the fact that they are targeted by the tobacco companies and should say “no” to starting.
Increasing the price of tobacco products and presenting messages that counter the tobacco industry’s marketing are among the ways in which we can help youth never start using tobacco.
Policies that make “tobacco-free” the norm and that protect youth from getting and using these deadly products are also important. 24/7 tobacco-free school policy, prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, and having tobacco-free outdoor parks and beaches are all examples of policies that may help prevent kids from using tobacco.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is the name given to a group of battery-operated tobacco products that allow users to inhale aerosolized liquid (e-juice) containing nicotine and other substances.
The terms “e-cigarettes” and “e-cigs” are often used for electronic cigarettes, as well as for e-pens, e-pipes, e-hookah, and e-cigars. These products are also sometimes called “JUULs” (after a branded e-cigarette of the same name), “vapes,” and “vape pens.”
Unlike traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes are made up of a battery-operated heating part — a cartridge (unit) that typically holds nicotine and other chemicals that change into a chemical-filled aerosol when heated.
Environmental scanning aims to identify your community’s risk factors that can contribute to underage or excessive alcohol consumption. Conducting a scan allows you to observe and document the 4 P’s: Price, Product, Promotion, and Placement. Recording these observations and pairing that information with other assessment data, such as youth survey data, allows you to create a clear picture of alcohol in your community. From that picture, you can then identify strategies to reduce underage and excessive use of alcohol.
These resources will provide the updated tobacco-free school model policy and the new model code of conduct. This list was developed to support schools with implementation of new policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use and vaping on school grounds and at school-sponsored events.
This report provides behavioral health professionals, researchers, policymakers and other audiences with a comprehensive research overview and accurate information about effective and ineffective therapeutic practices related to youth of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Use, Gambling, and Epidemiology Section has allocated funding to Prevention Network (PN) through the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Supplemental to expand two programs in the state of Michigan: the Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (MCRUD), and Parenting Awareness Michigan (PAM). In addition, this funding establishes a third program around youth coalition development. To guide program expansion across the state, the Michigan Youth Coalition Network (MYCN) was created as an extension of Prevention Network. The MYCN will provide professional development opportunities, resources, and support to coalitions working with youth around substance use disorder (SUD) prevention. Within the MYCN, a statewide MYCN coordination position has been created. The MYCN Coordinator will assess current youth programming activities, provide resources and support to new and existing coalitions interested in involving youth in coalition practices, and coordinate coalition leadership development opportunities.
Search institute has identified the following building blocks of healthy development in ages 12-18
Justice Leaders Collaborative has compiled, tweaked, and edited a number of activities that we have led and participated in through our roles as teachers, youth workers, afterschool programmers, social workers, and parents. We have also created a number of new activities that are included in this handbook. We do not claim ownership of any of the activities found in this handbook.