This was a question raised to me recently from one of our Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) providers.
She told us that her state was reducing funding for prevention and asked me if I had any thoughts on how to impress upon her state’s legislators the essential value of substance use prevention.
This is a common message I’ve heard and experienced for decades during my career as a prevention professional.
But every time I hear it I’m saddened for the lack of perceived importance of what substance use prevention and youth health promotion professionals do for young people, families and communities across America.
During this time of budgetary uncertainty and reductions, how can we positively and proactively respond to protect and even improve prevention funding?
Below are a few concrete suggestions.
One, individually and collectively contact your state and local lawmakers by phone and in writing to make the strong case for what evidence-based substance use prevention can do for saving citizens lives, reducing health and social costs, and increasing school and workforce performance and productivity.
Two, position prevention as a broader concept addressing "whole health" to include healthy lifestyle behavior improvement which addresses a myriad of health and social issues among youth and families, including mental health and stress, obesity and poor eating habits, lack of physical activity and sleep, violence, suicide, substance abuse, and poor school performance. The Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) model is an excellent resource to promote prevention from this broader and more positive protective factor focus.
Three, look to other sources of funding beyond the typical, such as that made available to your state and locality from the national opioid settlement awards. Track these opioid misuse grant funding opportunities and propose implementing evidence-based programs such as the Opioid PPW program for adolescents and the Opioid & Stimulants PPW program for young adults/college as well as the single-session Parent Training in PPW’s Opioid Misuse Prevention Presentation. Start by tracking the availability of current and future opioid and substance use prevention funding with the Opioid Settlement Tracker: https://www.opioidsettlementtracker.com/communitygranttracker
Lastly, don’t hesitate to reach out to Prevention Plus Wellness to see how we can help you and your organization continue and even expand your mission and reach to provide evidence-based substance use/misuse prevention for youth and young adults in your schools, families and communities.
Keep up the good fight! We are here to support you.
For more information regarding how you can implement PPW programs in your setting, contact us: info@preventionpluswellness.com, or check out our website: https://preventionpluswellness.com