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Recovery for All
Hosted by:
Please briefly describe your Communities Talk activity.
South Illinois University-Edwardsville Counseling Services (SIUE) hosted Recovery for All on April 12, 2023, from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Recovery for All was a substance misuse awareness and prevention event. We facilitated a fair-like event with several booths hosted by various substance misuse and prevention agencies in the community. We ended up having eight organizations come to the event, including SIUE Counseling Center, SIUE Police Department, Student Social Work Association, Chestnut Health Systems, Aviary Recovery Center, Amare, SIUE CRSS students, and a representative from the SIUE Student Affairs Office. During the event, there were different activities at each table to help promote student engagement, as well as resources regarding substance misuse prevention and treatment. We developed and distributed a participation survey to track student participation and engagement, as well as to obtain feedback about the success of the event. Feedback was positive, and we built connections with off-campus providers to effectively collaborate in order to connect students to appropriate substance misuse-related resources.
How does alcohol and other drug misuse affect your community?
SIUE used to have an Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention and Education Task Force, but it was been dormant for the past 8+ years. This has resulted in very few prevention and education related activities focused on alcohol and other drugs. Being awarded the Communities Talk stipend allowed us to dedicate time and resources to this important topic so we could address it as a campus. While we still have a long way to go, this event allowed us to begin the conversation on alcohol and other drug concerns. We are dedicated to expaning the resources and programming in this important area.
Which prevention strategy(ies), as defined by SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, best fit your Communities Talk activity?
- Information Dissemination Strategy - focuses on improving awareness and knowledge of the effects of AOD issues on communities and families through “one-way” communication with the audience such as speaking engagements, health fairs, and distribution of print materials.
What goal(s) did you hope to accomplish with your Communities Talk activity?
- Develop strategic plans to reduce and prevent alcohol and/or other drug misuse.
Did you accomplish your goal(s)?
Yes
What challenge(s) did you face in planning your activity this year?
- Needed additional resources to conduct activity
How did you overcome these challenges?
We used resources from grants to bring interactive items to the event. We collaborated with various ommunity resources to she relevant information with the students.
What are your next steps?
- Host follow-up meetings or activities
- We aim to re-establish the prevention and educatio task force to resume programming efforts in this area.
If you’ve conducted Communities Talk activities in prior years, how has your repeated participation contributed to progress in achieving your prevention goals?
This was our first Communities Talk activity. We are looking forward to doing more in the future.
Organizations that conduct Communities Talk activities often involve other organizations in the planning and execution of events. Please indicate which type(s) of organizations you involved in your activity planning.
Which of the following best describes the primary audience(s) for your Communities Talk activity?
How did you reach and engage your primary audience(s) to encourage them to participate in your activity?
We used social media messaging, digital signage, physical signage, word of mouth, speaking with campus partners.
Which Communities Talk resources (or other SAMHSA resources) were most helpful for your activity?
- Prevention-related webinars
- StopAlcoholAbuse.gov website
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