A prevention week reflection from Partnership to End Addiction’s CEO, Creighton Drury included the following statement:
“In my many years working with young people, and in my current role leading Partnership to End Addiction, I have come to recognize that it is much more effective to focus on promoting the things we want, rather than on preventing the things we don’t want. This paradigm shift can make all the difference.”
And what do we want to promote among our youth? I’m sure many prevention professionals, parents and caregivers would say their mental and physical wellbeing, right?
We know healthy behaviors, particularly the Big 3 lifestyle behaviors of physical activity and sports, health breakfast and nutrition, and sleep are critical to protecting against mental and physical health problems while also promoting youth mental and physical wellbeing.
Research also shows using a multi-health approach to prevention can prevent substance use and various risk factors that promote substance use while enhancing healthy habits: https://preventionpluswellness.com/pages/research-evaluating-ppw-programs
That’s why prevention should include a strong emphasis on promoting health-enhancing habits, along with presenting substance use risk information.
We at Prevention Plus Wellness agree with Mr. Drury that prevention begins with positive promotion.
Particularly promoting those wellness-enhancing behaviors that are lacking among most of our young people, including physical activity, healthy eating and sleep, as well as stress control and goal setting skills.
Read Mr. Drury’s full statement and learn more about the Partnership to End Addiction:
Learn more about the Prevention Plus Wellness logic model and theory: https://preventionpluswellness.com/pages/ppw-logic-model