November 2022

Rethink Recovery Wins Platinum MUSE Award

"The Rethink Recovery campaign exemplifies Prevention First's ongoing commitment to building healthy communities. The MUSE Platinum Award is a lovely honor."

– Kim Zambole,

Director of Communications

Prevention First

Ready to Drink Products Raise Concerns

The Ready to Drink (RTD) alcohol product market has exploded over the past few years. RTDs are pre-made/mixed canned or bottled alcoholic beverages. Worldwide, the RTD alcohol market in 2021 was $32.94 billion, according to a market intelligence report by InsightAce Analytic. By 2030, it is expected to expand to $85.5 billion. Terms like hard, spiked, or infused are all used, but not all mean the drink contains alcohol. There is also frequently a candy connection with RTDs, which begs the question – who are they marketing to?

Coalitions can conduct Environmental Scans to discover what RTDs are being sold in their community and where they are placed within an outlet. Are RTDs next to soda in the cooler or on an endcap? Coalitions can also review any established alcohol advertising restrictions. The APRC has several resources on Environmental Scanning including an infographic and a microlearning video. A fact sheet on Alcohol Advertising Restrictions is also available.

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.

Don't Miss Regular Resources!

The YPRC staff and the Student Advisory Board are working to bring you new resources throughout the year. We will introduce each new resource in the YPRC Newsletter and on our various social media channels.

Join our mailing list or follow our social channels to stay current on our latest resources, trainings, and webinars. 



Do you wish more people in your school, community, or organization knew how to respond to someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge or crisis? Bring the YPRC in to facilitate QPR or Mental Health First Aid training.    



Bring QPR or Mental Health First Aid Training to your Community

QPR

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 question, persuade, and refer someone to help. QPR can be learned in our Gatekeeper course (virtual or in person) in as little as one hour. 

Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid is a course that teaches participants how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives First Aiders the skills they need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis. 

The YPRC provides training in Youth Mental Health First Aid (for adults to assist young people) and Teen Mental Health First Aid (for young people to provide Mental Health First Aid to their peers). Courses can be held in person or virtually. Depending on the delivery method, the instructor-led portion of Youth MHFA courses runs between 4.5 and 8 hours. Teen MHFA courses are taught in multiple shorter sessions. 

For more information or to schedule one of these trainings, contact Randyl Wilkins. 

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.

Environmental Prevention Strategies Training Available

An effective approach to prevention that can have long term impact is to focus on targeting the larger contexts that shape substance use: norms, policies, laws, and culture. These efforts are known as environmental prevention strategies. Learn more about environmental prevention strategies and their benefits by taking the Creating Community Change with Environmental Strategies online self-paced course at Prevention First. This training will help you identify which strategies will be most effective in your community as well as what stakeholders to engage in the selection and implementation of environmental strategies.  

Great Lakes PTTC Provides Training Opportunities

The Great Lakes PTTC, funded by SAMHSA, provides training opportunities to substance use preventionists in the Health and Human Services Region 5: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. To see upcoming events offered by the Great Lakes PTTC, please click here. 

Online Self Study Courses

CPRC Website Gets a New Look

We have re-organized the CPRC webpage – here are some of the useful resources you can find! 

• Submit a Marijuana Marketing Violation – describes the process for identifying and reporting advertising not in accordance with Illinois law.  
• Cannabis Derivatives Infographic – illustrates the differences between cannabis products found in dispensaries and those that can be found outside of dispensaries.
• The Differences Between Alcohol and Cannabis Policy – explores the consumption patterns & contributing factors associated with alcohol and cannabis-related harms and why it is important to approach regulation differently.   

Reach out to the CRPC today for assistance on how you can look at data like this to inform your policy decisions! Contact Jake Levinson or Kellie Henrichs.

TSRC Peer-to-Peer Teen Safe Driving Program Kicks Off

The Traffic Safety Resource Center is excited to announce their peer-to-peer teen safe driving program has kicked off with 16 Illinois high schools participating.

These high schools have established a group of students within their schools that will take a lead role in learning about traffic safety and then develop activities to educate their peers about the importance of traffic safety.

Students will be conducting a variety of activities such as seat belt surveys, educating elementary students about traffic safety and bringing community awareness to their activities.



These activities will cover traffic safety topics that are of high importance to teens such as seat belts, speed, distracted driving and impaired driving. We are very excited to see the creativity the students will bring to the program as they become youth leaders for traffic safety. Stay tuned each month as we bring you highlights of their activities. 

If you would like more information about how your school can participate in the peer-to-peer teen safe driving program, contact Kathy Murphy.

For more than 40 years, the American Cancer Society has hosted the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November. This year's event falls on November 17.

The Great American Smokeout provides an opportunity for individuals, community groups, businesses, health care providers, and others to encourage people to use the date to make a plan to quit, or plan in advance and initiate a smoking cessation plan: not just for one day, but for a smoke-free life.

Today, the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout event is celebrated with rallies, parades, and information about smoking cessation in schools, workplaces, main streets, and legislative halls throughout the US.

About 34 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world. Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5 deaths.

While the rates of cigarette smoking have declined over the past several decades, from 42% in 1965 to 14% in 2019, the gains have been inconsistent. Some groups smoke more heavily or at higher rates and suffer disproportionately from smoking-related cancer and other diseases. 

These populations tend to be those who experience inequities in multiple areas of their lives, including those at lower socioeconomic levels, those without college degrees, American Indians/Alaska natives, African American/Black communities, LGBTQ communities, those in the military, those with behavioral health conditions, and others.

 Fortunately, the past few decades have seen great strides in changing attitudes about smoking, understanding nicotine addiction, and learning how to help people quit. 

Visit here to learn more about quitting smoking, improving your health, or getting involved with the Great American Smokeout in your community.

Looking for resources to share with your community? Visit our Virtual Clearinghouse of Resources or contact us, and we will help.