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Facebook Live Presentations
Hosted by:
Mclaren Bay Region-Neighborhood Resource Center
How does alcohol and other drug misuse affect your community?
Substance misuse vastly affects academic achievement in our community. During the holiday season in 2019, our community was faced with 28 overdoses in 28 days. We also see a high rate of prescription drug misuse and want to raise awareness about the effects it can have during pregnancy.
What challenge(s) did you face in planning your activity this year?
- Lack of interest from the community
- Lack of awareness of our event or organization
How did you overcome these challenges?
At first, we noticed a lack of awareness and attendance for our virtual events. However, as our event continued, we noticed an increase in views and were able to capitalize on that increase to keep bringing in new viewers with promotional efforts. Using Facebook provided a clear way for people to discover that many organizations, individuals, and entities were working on the issue from multiple facets.
What are your next steps?
- Host follow-up meetings or activities
- Expand our coalition with new partnerships in the community
- Conduct research efforts to learn more about issues in our 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?
- Prevention-related webinars
- Prevention videos, such as College Drinking: Prevention Perspectives
- StopAlcoholAbuse.gov website
- Communities Talk website
- Communities Talk planning guides
- Communities Talk toolkits
- Communities Talk social media content (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)
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
- Raised awareness of substance abuse and/or underage drinking issues in our community
How did your event make an impact on underage drinking in your community?
Our Facebook Live virtual series allowed several community groups to work toward their substance misuse prevention efforts together. Each group received a chart highlighting the strategies of each organization. The charts helped illustrate how the strategies of each organization are being implemented in their respective sectors so all groups could see organization-level detail and have a larger view across all sectors.
The virtual series included the following sessions and topics:
- The Harmful Effects of Substance Use: Before, During, and After Pregnancy
- Information from a youth perspective on how alcohol and/or drugs has affected them with personal testimonies
- A session to inform and educate military families on underage drinking and provide tips and techniques on how to minimize the issue
- Tools and techniques to assist parents with communicating about alcohol, marijuana, and opiates to high school and college students
These virtual events offered a renewed emphasis on collaboration, coordination, evaluation, and communication within our community. Our hope is to have a county plan by the end of the 2020 calendar year.
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