April 2022

In This Issue: National Prevention Week Epi Corner: What We Have Learned About the Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) "What we give them", A poem about prevention What's Happening Around the Region? Register for Part 3 Ditching the Discomfort with Data, Working With Data PTTC Spotlights Latino Behavioral Health Equity Conference Resources: Online Registry for Substance Misuse Prevention Evidence-based Programs and Practices Funding Opportunities Are you planning activities or events for National Prevention Week? Yes!! Select No Select Not Sure Yet Select Strengthen Community Build Resilience Create Hope National Prevention Week (NPW) is a national public education platform bringing together communities and organizations to raise awareness about the importance of substance use prevention and positive mental health. As national participation in NPW has increased over the years, this week now serves as a week-long observance created by SAMHSA to celebrate prevention efforts in organizations and communities across the nation, and across all ages. The three primary goals of National Prevention Week are to: Involve communities in raising awareness of substance use and mental health issues and in implementing prevention strategies and showcasing effectiveness of evidence-based prevention programs; Foster partnerships and collaborations with federal agencies and national organizations dedicated to improving public health; and Promote and disseminate quality substance use prevention and mental health promotion resources and publications. We know communities make prevention happen every day – not just during NPW – and NPW is the perfect time to promote and celebrate a year’s worth of prevention efforts, as well as get news, ideas, and resources to strengthen daily, weekly, and monthly prevention activities. There’s still time to plan your events! Use this planning toolkit to start planning today. https://www.samhsa.gov/prevention-week/toolkit

Epi Corner

What We Have Learned About the Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) By Iris Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H.

The U.S. opioid epidemic has been characterized as consisting of four overlapping waves: overuse of prescribed opioids; decrease in prescription overdose deaths and rise in heroin use; advent of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and other high potency synthetic opioids (HPSOs); and combined use of HPSOs and psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.   Each wave of the epidemic has resulted in needless loss of life through overdoses and associated medical, social, and psychiatric complications resulting from use. At the individual level, risk factors for opioid use disorder (OUD) include younger age, being male (although overdose deaths increased among women between 1999 and 2017), and economic stress due to unemployment and poverty. At the community level, risk factors include social and economic barriers to treatment, lack of treatment programs/facilities, illicit drug availability, and the lower manufacturing and distribution costs associated with HPSOs.  Read the article and view additional resources

A Prevention Poem by Sarah Johnson New England PTTC Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator

What we give them   We give our children  "Make sure you clean the lint trap when you do your laundry, baby, or you'll start a fire."   We give them Vegetables on rocket ships so the fantasy outweighs the flavor.   We give them  A blue shirt or a red shirt for school today, sweety.    We give them It's so sunny and warm, go play outside for a little while.    But what would we keep from giving them, if we knew we had a choice? What wouldn't we give them if we knew we were giving it at all?    What misperceptions, what bias, what pain, what anger, what self-doubt, what confusion, what weight, what mania, what coping, what hidden things-    What would we have kept from handing over to them if we had the chance to see how we were handing it over? Wrapped in a bow or slid across the kitchen table silently around the elephants in the room.    What things would we have killed within us before they had a chance to slither through time any further, your gene pool finally acidic enough with you to kill all the germs.    What pitchforks we could put down. Clean it all out, baby, so your torch doesn't start a fire.

What's Happening Around the Region?

South Southwest PTTC Training

Part 3 of Ditching the Discomfort: Working with Data will provide you with real-life experience on three key tasks that need to be achieved before you can start analyzing data: data collection, data preparation, and data cleaning. Just like when you are baking cookies, you have to get all the right ingredients collected, have your recipe handy, and make sure your baking area is clean before you can begin. Working with Data is very similar! Join us as we continue our data literacy journey to "Ditch the Discomfort!" Register for Part 3 Ditching the Discomfort with Data Series, Parts 1 and 2 are now available. Watch Part 1 Watch Part 2 View Past Training Events and Find Helpful Resources Have you missed any of our previous training events? View recordings and resources from any of our previously offered training on our products page. All three sessions of the Coalition Affinity Group Series are now available! (Click on the image above) The first of six booster videos for the Coalition Affinity Group will be released in our May newsletter! This month, observe National Alcohol Awareness month with us by helping your community understand the causes and treatment available for one of the nation's biggest health issues.

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PTTC Spotlights

More information coming soon! The newest resources from the PTTC Implementation Science Working Group Online Registries for Evidence-Based Substance Misuse Prevention: How to Conduct a Successful Search Guide to Online Registries for Substance Misuse Prevention Evidence-based Programs and Practices

Funding Opportunities

Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success Funding to use the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework to address one of the nation's top substance misuse prevention priorities in youth and adults. Awardees will identify the primary substance use concerns in their community and develop... Read more www.samhsa.gov

Mentoring for Youth Affected by Opioid and Other Drug Misuse Grants to support local, regional, or statewide efforts to provide mentoring services to youth ages 17 and under and their family members impacted by opioids and other drug misuse. Priority: Rural communities and federally recognized tribes. Read more www.grants.gov

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