In Season 2, Episode 1 we welcomed Logan Morrow to the Podcast! Christopher interviewed Logan about her experiences as a Student Assistance Professional (SAP), and how coalitions can support their work.

Click the image with this story to access the new podcast or visit the following URL:

https://preventcoalition.podbean.com/e/s2-e1-supporting-saps/

...and if you missed an episode of Season 1, here are links to all six episodes:

• Episode 0 - Welcome
• Episode 1 - Rural Network
• Episode 2 - Policy Change
• Episode 3 - Secure Your Cannabis
• Episode 4 - "Better You Bingo" with special guests from Clark County STASHA!
• Episode 5 - Sweet & Sour
• Episode 6 - New Coordinator Orientation

Listen at preventcoalition.podbean.com or on Google Podcasts, the Apple Podcast app and other familiar streaming services. Episodes are also archived at preventcoalition.org/events/news/.

Consider adding the Prevent Coalition Podcast to your playlist! We're sharing stories and strategies to help coalitions and organizations reach their full potential.

The materials from our recent Qualitative Data Workshop training, provided by experts from Clark County Public Health, are now available on-demand. Get answers to questions like the following:

• What is qualitative data?
• How do I use it?
• What are the benefits?
• How do I collect it?
• How do I analyze and interpret qualitative data?
• How do I embed it into my practice?
• ...and more!

Resources on the website are organized into categories, are downloadable, and free! Visit the website to see the videos, handouts, worksheets, and other resources.

Last month Prevent Coalition hosted the Elevate Youth Prevention Forum. The goal - bring youth together and elevate their awareness, elevate their skills, and help them feel empowered to engage in prevention work in their communities, and have fun doing it! We were pleased to see so many young people turn out and participate!

The 5-hour event was led by a team of CADCA trainers who introduced key essentials for doing youth prevention work and engaged them in fun and immersive activities. Topics covered included leadership, community organizing, problem solving, civic activism, political engagement, and youth-adult partnerships.

The success of this event is due to support from coalition leaders, SAP's, adult chaperones and volunteers, and of course our awesome CADCA trainers - on behalf of the youth, thank you!

"Become a Trusted Adult" is a training that prepares adults to understand their role as models of social and emotional health, anticipate the mental health needs of youth and understand how to engage with youth skillfully. Participants will learn the foundational ideas embedded in the Calm and Connected Toolkit and applicable strategies for integration into existing community programs. The training is valuable for professionals who work with youth but also beneficial for parents.

The registration process is currently under construction, stay tuned! Save the date and in the meantime, visit www.calmandconnectedtoolkit.com for more information.

When: June 20th, 9am-5pm

Where: Educational Service District 112 Conference Center, Vancouver, WA

Registration: coming soon!

Agenda: coming soon!

Trainer Website: www.calmandconnectedtoolkit.com

Questions: contact Joy Lyons, Manager, Prevention Intervention & Youth Services, ESD 112. (joy.lyons@esd112.org)

Founded by parents who have lost loved ones to the Fentanyl crisis, National Fentanyl Awareness Day is supported by a national coalition of experts, companies and partners who are coming together to amplify this critical issue.

A website is available with resources for anyone interested in promoting the event. You will find information about the event, facts about Fentanyl, and a partner toolkit that can be downloaded with sample messages, social media assets, infographics, and more.

Learn more at fentanylawarenessday.org.

National Prevention Week (NPW) is a national public education platform bringing together communities and organizations to raise awareness about the importance of substance use prevention and positive mental health.

Organizations, prevention groups, and community members can participate by hosting their own National Prevention Week event. SAMHSA provides a NPW Planning Toolkit with everything from a planning checklist to videos and printable marketing materials. Archived webinars on health and prevention topics are available too.

People can also participate using SAMHSA's online NPW platform which provides access to downloadable and youth-friendly activities, webinars, sharing a prevention story (#MyPreventionStory), and more. Visit the NPW website at www.samhsa.gov/prevention-week.

The Center for Black Health & Equity’s "No Menthol Sunday" is an annual opportunity to raise consciousness about important issues in Black health and remain vigilant in efforts toward total health justice. Each year faith leaders dedicate this day to educating congregants about smoking, vaping and the role of menthol and other flavors.

This year’s theme, "Focus on Victory, Go Against the Grain" encourages people to stand up against the tobacco industry and create healthy and just tobacco-free communities.

​

Communities and individuals can participate by promoting No Menthol Sunday using the toolkit on the event website, www.nomentholsunday.org. Social media graphics and captions are available, activity calendars, faith-based activities, youth coloring books, and educational materials. Check it out!

This international campaign encourages governments around the globe to end tobacco growing subsidies and use the savings to support farmers in a switch to more sustainable crops that improve food security and nutrition. Tobacco growing harms our health, the health of farmers and the planet’s health.

No matter the country, the tobacco industry embraces profit over food security, health, and the environment. The consequences of tobacco use move it from being a human problem to a planetary problem. It is a threat to human development as a whole.

More information and history can be learned from reading the World Health Organization report, "Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet". Click on the image with this article to download the report. Campaign materials, resources, farmer testimonials, and more about the campaign is available at www.who.int/campaigns/world-no-tobacco-day.

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is excited to offer the Community Based Prevention Capacity Building Grant. This funding opportunity is an expansion of The DOH’s Youth Cannabis and Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program (YCCTPP). Awards will range from $20,000 - $100,000 annually for a maximum of 15 grantees.

This funding is for projects that support prevention capacity building by organizations or coalitions who are working towards substance misuse, cannabis or tobacco/vaping prevention. Information about eligibility, application deadlines, selection dates, and anticipated funding period are all described in the flyer with this article. Click on the flyer image to view.

The request for applications (RFA) is now open and the deadline to apply is May 29, 2023. Application instructions and more information can be found on the Athena website.

(https://theathenaforum.org/community-based-prevention-capacity-building-grants-available)

WSU Extension is offering virtual facilitator trainings for Guiding Good Choices (GGC) in 2023. The trainings are covered by a grant and therefore free to participants; each training is limited to the first 16 registered participants. One more training opportunity remains:

• June 26-30, 2023 (Click HERE to register)
  

Although the training and registration fees are covered for participants, attendees MUST purchase a Membership Subscription (either 1 year or 3 years) and the GGC Workshop Leader Guide License prior to the training. Please visit the University of Washington's GGC CoMotion Website for purchasing material: https://els2.comotion.uw.edu/product/guiding-good-choices-ggc.

Training follows a Monday-Friday schedule:

• Mondays from 10 am -12 pm and 2 pm - 4 pm
• Tuesdays from 10 am -12 pm and 2 pm - 4 pm
• Wednesdays from 10 am -12 pm and 2 pm - 4 pm
• Thursdays from 10 am -12 pm and 2 pm - 4 pm
• Fridays from 10 am - 1 pm

Visit the Guiding Good Choices program website for more information, or please reach out to AnaMaria Diaz-Martinez at a.martinez@wsu.edu or Kayla Wells-Yoakum at kayla.wells@wsu.edu.

Mental Health Awareness Month was established in 1949 to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives and to celebrate recovery from mental illness.

SAMHSA provides a website with resources to support promotion and awareness. Along with a toolkit of resources you will also find links to the 988 crisis line resources, links to provider support, a list of events happening through May, links to mental health resources on other governmental platforms, and more. Get access by visiting www.samhsa.gov/programs/mental-health-awareness-month

Created by young people for young people, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) released a game called, "Say It Out Loud!", a free online card game that will bring you closer to your friends through conversation prompts about life, relationships, and mental health.

Best played on a mobile device, among 3-6 people, NAMI Say It Out Loud is made up of three card decks – Whisper It, Say It, and Shout It – with prompts that start at the surface and dig deeper as you play. From questions about what makes you cringe to how you bring up your own mental health with friends, NAMI Say It Out Loud helps you explore how you and your friends approach mental health and well-being. There are wild cards and wellness cards too, which help mix up the conversations, like suggesting you give the person next to you a compliment or encouraging a stretch break.

NAMI Say It Out Loud can be used in almost any context. It is free to play and can be found at siol.nami.org.

PLAY SAY IT OUT LOUD!

A help line for teens, by teens, Teen Link is a program of Crisis Connections that serves youth in Washington State. Teens can find support for themselves, a sibling, or a friend. Parents can call for support with a teenage child, and caring adults can call about a teen in their life. In 2022, Teen Link answered 1,861 calls.

The teen volunteers are trained to listen to concerns and talk about whatever’s on the caller's mind – bullying, drug and alcohol concerns, relationships, stress, depression or any other issues they are facing. No issue is too big or too small! Calls and chats are confidential.

Additional resources are available such as the "Where to Turn for Teens" guide, youth suicide prevention curriculum, substance use prevention flyer (pictured with this story), and more. Learn more at the Teen Link website, www.teenlink.org.

For almost one year now the 988 dialing or texting code has connected people to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where compassionate, accessible care and support is available for anyone experiencing mental health-related distress - including youth - whether that is thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also contact 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.

Promotional materials including a toolkit, flyers, and more are available. Free magnets can be ordered too. Visit SAMHSA's 988 information website to learn more.

If you like one-stop shopping, then take a look at the 2023 edition of SAMHSA's Prevention Resources for Healthy Communities. This catalog contains a library of SAMHSA's digital and print resources of practical, evidence-based approaches to preventing substance misuse, with special sections focused on messages for young people and Spanish-language materials. Unless otherwise noted, resources in the catalog are available for free from the SAMHSA website. QR codes are placed throughout the guide to allow quick access to the resources.

Click the image with this article to view and download the guide.

Washington Department of Health launched a new statewide youth vaping prevention and cessation campaign, Choose You. Informed by research with youth across the state, the campaign educates about the risks of using vapes, features healthy ways to deal with stress, and directs to resources for those who need help quitting.

With this campaign comes a new partner toolkit (password: ChooseYouWA). Currently assets include videos, a radio ad, banner ads in multiple sizes, organic and paid social ads, posters, billboards, and campaign background materials (talking points, backgrounder, and style guide). Spanish language resources and additional assets are currently in development.

You can check out the new campaign at chooseyouwa.org and the toolkit resources are available at socialpresskit.com/choose-you.

*Storing medicine in a locked location is the single most effective deterrent to accidental poisonings, overdose, medicine theft, and misuse that can lead to prescription drug addiction. Stay informed and talk with loved ones about the risks for ingesting or taking medicine not prescribed for them and benefits of safeguarding your medications. Learn more at www.LocksSaveLives.org.

• Assess Needs: We will be hosting rural Listening Sessions in May and June led by WSU researcher Dr. Janessa Graves. This information will be about rural risk and protective factors, and will help us update our needs assessment from 2020.
• Evaluation: Look forward to an annual evaluation survey coming in June to reflect on our progress as a network and ensure we're doing what works.
• Assess Data: Clark County Public Health is creating an online dashboard of rural Healthy Youth Survey results that will be published in June, allowing users to easily access cross-tabs and detailed results from the report in a visual and accessible way.
  
• Build Toolkit: We appreciate all who have submit youth survey responses to the Find Your Good campaign update. We have collected them, reviewed them as a full network during thee April meeting, and will be having our Communications team finish the rest. The Committee run by Logan will reconvene to review the sample posts that Communications makes during the next meeting.
  
• Build Toolkit: The Toolkit Workgroup led by Logan Morrow meets monthly to update the Find Your Good campaign with rural elements, captions, and images. Email Logan.morrow@esd112.org to get involved!
  
• Change Policy: We trained rural youth groups statewide at the Youth Advocacy Training in December, then connected with Senator Shelly Short, Republic Floor Leader to host a legislative Q&A.
  
• Offer Training: Special thanks to Jason Anderson and The Montana Institute for providing training at our March meeting about Positive Community Norms and the Science of the Positive.
• Offer Training: Thank you to Dr. Janessa Graves for presenting on rural mental health and Group Concept Mapping in February! In November and January we learned about policymaking.
  
• Offer Training: We're sending several rural communities to the Montana Summer Training Institute. We look forward to hearing how it goes!
  
• Promote Equity: We published Spanish translations of the entire Making the Connection Toolkit. Learn more at: https://bit.ly/connectiontoolkit.
  
• Promote Equity: We published Spanish translations of the entire Making the Connection Toolkit. Learn more at: https://bit.ly/connectiontoolkit.
  
• Promote Equity: Logan is starting a book club event to review "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times," by Washington author Mónica Guzmán. Connect with Logan to get involved!

For a full grant progress timeline visit www.preventcoalition.org/rural/our-work/.

The Rural Toolkit can be found at www.preventcoalition.org/rural/toolkit. Access to the Rural Toolkit is password protected. The password is: ruralrocks!

Coalition Coordinators Meeting

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

9:30 -11:00 a.m.

Online conference call by invitation.

For southwest region coalition coordinators.

SW Regional Network Meeting

Thursday, June 8, 2023

2:00 -3:30 p.m.

Online conference call by invitation.

For southwest regional network members.

Coalition Coordinators Meeting

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

9:30 -11:00 a.m.

Online conference call by invitation.

For southwest region coalition coordinators.

Positive Community Norms (PCN) Workgroup

Monday, May 15, 2023

11-12:30 p.m.

Online conference call

Develop a rural Positive Community Norms Campaign

Hosted by the Montana Institute

Rural Steering Committee

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

3-4:30 p.m.

Online conference call

Develop the plan, guide the implementation, evaluate the results.

Rural Network Meeting

Tuesday, May 30

2-3:30 p.m.

Online conference call

Learn how to engage communities effectively, create a plan for action, and define key concepts of equity and cultural competency.

Rural Network Office Hours

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

1-2 p.m.

Online conference call

For Rural Network members to receive technical assistance

Rural Steering Committee

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

3-4:30 p.m.

Online conference call

Develop the plan, guide the implementation, evaluate the results.

All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Click for full calendar of coalition and community events.

Relevant events not sponsored by Prevent Coalition:

NW PTTC

What Does & Does Not Work in Prevention

(Webinar)

May 17, 2023

1-2:30pm PST

No fee, click here to visit registration page

This webinar will identify interventions that have been shown through research to not be effective in preventing substance use, evidence-based interventions that can be used as effective alternatives to the ineffective strategies, and describe strategies to address resistance to discontinuing ineffective prevention strategies. Presented by Alicia Sparks, PhD, MPH, and Rick Collins.

YCCTPP & Rede Group

The Need for Addressing Tobacco in Behavioral Health

(In-person. Virtual option available)

May 25, 2023

9:30am-3:30pm PST

No fee, click here to visit registration page

Presented by Dr. Jill Williams, director of addiction psychiatry and professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. This event will review data and effects of commercial tobacco on behavioral health patients and provide vital information to help clinical staff working in behavioral health settings address tobacco use with their clients. Topics include epidemiology of smoking in behavioral health populations, consequences of tobacco use, clinical approaches to working with commercial tobacco, practical techniques for assessment and treatment, and more! In-person event held at ESD 112 Conference Center in Vancouver, WA.

Flavors Hook Kids Washington

2023 Washington State Flavored Tobacco Summit

(In-Person)

Northwest African American Museum – 2300 S Massachusetts St, Seattle

May 25, 2023

8am-3:30pm PST

Free, breakfast and lunch included, click here to visit registration page

Health leaders, educators, and advocates from across the state of Washington will convene to discuss, plan, and develop strategies to end the sale of flavored tobacco in Washington State. Conference panels will focus on the history and prevalence of flavored tobacco use, education and advocacy opportunities, and best practices for coalition building. Organizations and advocates focused on commercial tobacco prevention, youth advocacy, and community health are welcome to attend. Website: https://flavorshookkidswa.org/

The 2023 Montana Summer Institute

The Paradox of the Positive: Preventing Harm by Promoting Health

(In-person at Big Sky Resort, Montana. Virtual option available)

June 20-23, 2023

Registration: click here to visit event web page

Dr. Jeff Linkenbach, Dr. Jason Kilmer, and The Montana Institute training team will dive into the Paradox of the Positive and learn how we can prevent harm by promoting health. Our exciting lineup of presentations and workshops will explore the Science of the Positive, Positive Community Norms, and Health Outcomes from Positive Experiences.

CADCA

Mid-Year Training Institute 2023

(In-person, Dallas, TX. Virtual option available)

July 16-20, 2023

Cost: $745-$955 through June 5th, 2023

Registration: click here to visit event web page

Training from top experts in the field, information, tools, and strategies to take your prevention work to the next level. The latest science, news, and trends on substance misuse issues and the opportunity to network with thousands of advocates passionate about prevention. Specialized youth leadership training sessions held too!

National Prevention Network (NPN)

National Conference

(In-person, Birmingham, AL)

August 15-17, 2023

Cost: $799 before July 15. Click here to visit event web page

The purpose of the NPN Conference is to highlight the latest research in the substance use prevention field. It provides a forum for prevention professionals, coalition leaders, researchers, and federal partners to share research, best practices and promising evaluation results for the purpose of integrating research into prevention practice.

PAVe

Clear the Vapor Conference

(Webinar)

October 24-25, 2023

Times TBD

No fee, click here to visit registration page

Clear the Vapor is PAVe’s annual high-level and highly accessible youth vaping event. It is a unique, parent-powered and volunteer-led FREE event intended to provide both an overview and a deep dive into all aspects of this ongoing adolescent public health crisis, with an emphasis on practical solutions.

NW PTTC

Ethics in Prevention Foundations

(Virtually moderated 6-hour course)

Repeats monthly, visit website for next session!

No Fee, Limited Space Available

This two-week, asynchronous moderated course, adapted from the original SAMHSA Center for Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) course, explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics. The course also introduces a decision-making process to help practitioners apply this code to a variety of ethical dilemmas, and an online discussion area to facilitate discussion with other course participants. Course meets requirements for prevention specialist credentialing.

View ongoing training and events at https://pttcnetwork.org.

NW PTTC

Special Topics in Prevention of Substance Misuse

(Self-paced courses)

A large selection of online, on-demand courses that explore special topics in prevention of substance misuse that will better-equip prevention professionals & coalitions to serve their communities.

Access the courses via the HealtheKnowledge.org website.

NW PTTC

Pharmacology for Prevention Professionals

(Self-paced course)

Explore the basics of how substances impact major brain regions and the acute and chronic symptoms associated with different substances. Certificates of 1.5 hours for each of the following four courses: Basics of Pharmacology and Alcohol, Basics of Pharmacology and Opioids, Basics of Pharmacology and Psychostimulants (Cocaine & Methamphetamine), and Basics of Pharmacology and Cannabis.

Learn more and enroll via the HealtheKnowledge.org website.

Supported by the fiscal agent ESD 112, Prevent is a regional coalition formed in 2003 to increase collaboration, awareness, and reduce youth substance use in Southwest Washington. Prevent also implements initiatives for rural communities across Washington state. As a community mobilizer, the coalition creates a culture promoting healthy choices; advocates for policies and regulations that protect, empowers and nurtures youth; and facilitates positive opportunities for youth to be involved and thrive.

Email: preventcoalition@esd112.org
Website: www.PreventCoalition.org
Location: 2500 NE 65th Ave., Vancouver, WA, USA
Phone: 360-952-3457
Facebook: Facebook.com/PreventCoalition
Twitter: @supportyouthnow