August is Overdose Awareness Month and August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day. These observances encourage us to reflect and respond to the reality of overdoses. The opioid crisis has left a devastating impact on our communities and loved ones. In 2020, nearly 3,000 individuals throughout
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Illinois lost their lives due to overdoses. Use this month to talk about this issue of overdoses with your community. Consider sharing Prevention First's public awareness campaign, A Dose Of Truth. You can follow the Facebook page or visit the website for opioid facts, life-saving tips, practical resources, and more.
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"Opioid Awareness Month reminds us that opioid misuse and overdose continue to be a significant public health problem. We must work together to address this problem with effective resources and strategies for those living with opioid use disorder."
– Karel Homrig,
Chief Executive Officer
Prevention First
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Special Events & Access to Alcohol |
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Special events, such as fairs and festivals, are in full swing as we work our way through summer. While special events provide community members an occasion to celebrate, they can also offer underage youth an opportunity to access alcohol. If alcohol is a part of a special event, specific policies and procedures should be in place that make it difficult for youth to purchase alcohol or obtain alcohol from adults at the event. Special events with clear alcohol policies and procedures in place also send a clear message that consumption of alcohol by youth is not acceptable.
The APRC has developed several resources to assist communities, including a Special Events Toolkit. This toolkit outlines considerations to help event organizers plan safe, family-friendly events and avoid issues like overserved patrons and underage alcohol consumption. You can download the entire toolkit or the appendices.
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The Alcohol Policy Resource Center can assist with how to analyze your data, scan your community, and match policy/strategy to assessment findings. The APRC can also provide certified training to law enforcement on evidence-based strategies such as Alcohol Compliance Checks or Controlled Party Dispersal. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Kellie Henrichs or Jody Heavilin.
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Save the Date!
QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention
Thursday, September 1 at 6:30 PM
QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the three simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help.
This training is intended for youth (ages 13 and older) and adults that work with youth. If you work with young people and would like more information about this training opportunity, contact Randyl Wilkins at randyl.wilkins@prevention.org
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Annual Report Sneak Peak
Take a look at the YPRC’s annual report before it goes up on our website. The report gives an overview of what we accomplished during the last year.
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Technical Assistance, commonly referred to as consulting or coaching, is a one-on-one service that provides timely, flexible, and targeted support to an organization. Using a collaborative approach, Prevention First builds a prevention professional’s capacity to address their local conditions and develop their own prevention solutions to amplify programmatic effectiveness. For more information about technical assistance, please contact providerservices@prevention.org or call 312.909-9768.
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Online Training Spotlight:
As a new school year begins, we often find that due to administrative or other staff changes, we have to re-establish relationships that we previously used to implement prevention programs and services. The Collaborating with Key Stakeholders online training will increase participants' knowledge and skills related to building relations and collaborating with key community stakeholders. The course may be accessed anytime by clicking here.
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New Resource from Prevention First
The Delivering Culturally Responsive Prevention Programs Resource Guide provides general information, guidance and links to websites to support substance use prevention professionals in improving their cultural humility and capacity to serve their diverse community populations. It introduces cultural responsiveness, cultural humility and related concepts, social determinants of health (SDOH), and health equity concerning prevention of substance use. It also offers suggestions for implementing culturally responsive prevention activities.
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Online Self Study Courses |
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For more information about technical assistance or other services we offer,
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As changes to the cannabis landscape in Illinois and across the country occur, keep yourself up-to-date with trainings and resources from the CPRC. Be sure to check out all of the CPRC’s archived webinars available at our website here. Make sure not to miss upcoming opportunities by signing up for our newsletter.
Working on a cannabis policy issue in your community? The CPRC is available to provide one-on-one technical assistance. Contact Jake Levinson to see how we can assist.
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Attention Illinois High Schools!
Prevention First has an opportunity for you to showcase the creativity of your teens and participate in a Peer-to-Peer Teen Safe Driving Program!
This program utilizes the power of youth to empower safe driving behaviors by both the teens delivering the messages and the teens receiving them. Each school that participates and completes the required guidelines will receive a $50 gift card. They will also have the opportunity to participate in a traffic safety PSA contest.
Get Your School Involved!
It’s Easy!
Contact Kathy Murphy
Administrator, Traffic Safety Resource Center
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Broadening Prevention's Horizon |
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National Prevention Week 2022 ended with a powerful plenary session that highlighted how prevention professionals can strengthen community, build resilience, and create hope. If you missed the video, you can rewatch it here.
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Professional Development at Your Pace |
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Archived Webinars
Don't miss out on Prevention First's collection of live webinars to watch at your own convenience:
For APRC Webinars, visit their GoTo Stage for archived webinars.
For Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Webinars, visit their webpage.
For SUPR Treatment & Recovery Webinars, visit SUPR Training Events- Archived Webinar on the sidebar.
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