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Community Event
Hosted by:
SSTAR Prevention
How does alcohol and other drug misuse affect your community?
Our community has seen high rates of drug overdose and deaths caused by overdose. While these numbers have gone down, thanks to the hard work of many, we still have a long way to go. Homelessness, poverty, and other factors have made prevention more important than ever. We have groups of people, programs, and agencies addressing many of these issues but are especially concerned about our young people who report high rates of depression and anxiety at increasingly younger ages.
What challenge(s) did you face in planning your activity this year?
- Difficulty in general getting people to attend.
How did you overcome these challenges?
We made sure many different people were involved in our event, including all of the right people at the college where it was hosted.
What are your next steps?
- Host follow-up meetings or activities
- Expand our coalition with new partnerships in the community
- Create a public education campaign to raise awareness and/or change behaviors around underage drinking (i.e., create PSAs and other promotional materials)
Which Communities Talk resources (or other SAMHSA resources) were most helpful for your activity?
- Communities Talk website
- Communities Talk planning guides
- Communities Talk toolkits
- Communities Talk e-Alerts
How did a Communities Talk event help you address those issues?
- Mobilized coalition members or other stakeholders
- Educated youth and parents
- Built community cohesiveness and support for our efforts
- Created an opportunity to share resources and practices with other community stakeholders
- Helped plan future prevention efforts
- Made making good health behavior choices fun and engaging
- Raised awareness of substance abuse and/or underage drinking issues in our community
- Helped form a strong relationship with a local community college
How did your event make an impact on underage drinking in your community?
The event helped us form better relationships with youth and sparked conversation about issues related to substance misuse and prevention—including mental health and wellness. It allowed peer educators and peer leaders from our organization to ask important questions related to prevention.
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