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Alcohol Server Knowledge Training
Hosted by:
Knox Substance Abuse Action Team
How does alcohol and other drug misuse affect your community?
Members of our community recently mourned the loss of a young man due to a car accident involving underage drinking. His brother was fortunate to live through the crash; however, it was months before he could walk again. Today, the location of the crash serves as a reminder to friends, classmates, and community members that it could have been prevented if the youth had not had access to alcohol.
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?
Our biggest challenge was a lack of awareness. Fortunately, youth members stepped up and created a new strategic plan about disseminating information around the PSA. Their plan includes a future sticker campaign, as well as billboard and radio ad placements to target more community members during high-drinking events such as homecoming, graduation, and prom.
What are your next steps?
- 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?
- StopAlcoholAbuse.gov website
- Communities Talk social media content (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)
- Our youth led prevention team created a video to inform parents to Be a Parent, Not a Friend reminding them of the legal consequences of providing alcohol to underage youth.
How did a Communities Talk event help you address those issues?
- Educated youth and parents
- Created an opportunity to share resources and practices with other community stakeholders
- 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?
We presented our public service announcement (PSA), “Be a Parent, Not a Friend,” to the community and held a panel discussion after the showing. Each committee of our coalition informed participants about our current prevention efforts. Additionally, we had a productive conversation with participants about new initiatives specific to alcohol, e-cigarettes, and marijuana that we want to work toward as a coalition and a community. At the end of our event, we provided everyone with a KSAAT Community Resource Toolkit to take home.
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