Barnstable County Department of Human Services is offering SAPC mini-grants for FY21. These mini-grants are for community coalitions, schools, and nonprofit youth-serving organizations in communities who have executed a SAPC Program Participation Agreement to further youth substance use prevention efforts. Eight mini-grants will be awarded of up to $2,500 each for the SAPC communities of: Barnstable, Dennis, Chatham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Nauset School District, Sandwich, and Yarmouth. A conference call will be held on Friday, December 11, 2020 from 2:30 – 3:30 PM for anyone who may have questions regarding this application. Please email Kim Slade if you would like the link for the call.

December 11, 2020

On Friday, December 18th, the training team will present an interactive program that integrates best practices and principles regarding training for cultural humility in health care and human services (Fisher-Bourne, Cain and Martin, 2015; Betancourt, Green and Carrillo, 2016), while communicating essential knowledge and nuanced understanding regarding Native communities in Massachusetts.

The national LifeSkills Training website has added remote activities and projects for Life Skills Training (LST) trained instructors to use in grades 3-10. Many of them are available to LST instructors at no charge, and do not require additional training. As you know, the MA Department of Public Health continues to offer online Certification Trainings in this substance misuse prevention curriculum to schools that request the training, and meet our basic implementation criteria. The teacher trainings can be done at an instructors' own pace, over a preselected week.

Recognizing the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on children’s mental health, the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) joined forces with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to launch HandholdMA.org, a new family-friendly website for parents and guardians of school-aged children who are concerned about their child’s mental health. HandholdMA.org provides families with tips, tools, and resources designed to help them navigate their child’s mental health journey with confidence. The content, which is targeted to families with kids age 6-12 years, was developed by a team of mental health and child development experts as well as family and community partners. A creative team from IDEO Cambridge designed the user experience and branding.

Increased stress can lead to increases in alcohol and substance use. If you or someone you care about is starting to use alcohol or other substances, or is increasing their use during the COVID-19 pandemic, here are a few suggestions that may help:

Visit the CDC’s Alcohol and Substance Use during COVID website below for more information.

Almost one-third of the U.S. population meets alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria on a lifetime basis. This review provides an overview of recent research on the prevalence and patterns of alcohol-related improvement and selectively reviews nationally representative surveys and studies that followed risk groups longitudinally with a goal of informing patients with AUD and AUD researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers about patterns of improvement in the population.

In an effort to understanding the challenges and opportunities of providing essential components of care for people with MHSUDs in primary care settings, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders held a virtual workshop with three webinars held on June 3, July 29, and August 26, 2020, that addressed:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) can affect adolescents directly and indirectly. Many adolescents’ social, emotional and mental well-being may be impacted by the pandemic. Trauma faced at this developmental stage may have long-term consequences across their lifespan. The CDC’s COVID-19 Parental Resource Kit: Ensuring Children and Young People’s Social, Emotional, and Mental Well-being can help support parents, caregivers, and other adults serving children and young people in recognizing children and young people’s social, emotional, and mental challenges and helping to ensure their well-being.

Call 800-327-5050 or 617-292-5065 or view our Cape Cod Substance Use Resource Guide below.

Group via Zoom (5:30-7:00 pm) meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month. Contact Ann at aburke@fenwayhealth.org