Substance Use Prevention Coalition Plans Prevention and Harm Reduction Strategies

[March 17, 2024] 

The Substance Use Prevention Coalition (SUPC) met for its monthly planning and updates meeting at Lincoln Memorial Hospital (LMH) on Thursday, March 14.

Representatives from a number of area organizations met both in person and online to discuss best practices and upcoming events to support prevention and harm reduction of substance use.

Prevention Updates

Initiatives in youth prevention education continue. Last fall Illini Central and New Holland-Middletown schools participated in the prevention curriculum, and currently it is being offered at Lincoln Junior High School. A direct mailer is being sent to high school students as part of the anti-vaping campaign. Lunch tables will be set up at high schools with surveys, information cards, and swag.

The Illinois Youth survey is ongoing and designed for feedback about youth substance use and bullying. It started in January and goes until the end of year. The goal of the youth survey is to help with future youth services. A question arose about starting an anti- vaping campaign for junior high age, as well. Right now data is observational and anecdotal, but it is projected that the data indicating the need will be available in the future.

There is a new QR code for the Logan County online resource directory guide with resources that are continually updated www.logancountyresources.org.

Harm Reduction Updates

A new naloxone (Narcan) vending machine has been reported in another county. Free naloxone is also available at the Logan County Courthouse, the Logan County Health Department, and Family Custom Cleaners Sharps disposal boxes are now available for free at the Logan County Health Department.

Jeanette Davis of Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) has plans to begin community conversations about harm reduction to address the belief that harm reduction is not needed. ROSC is looking into trainings for starting and hosting discussions about the need for harm reduction. A survey is available about the need for a better meeting time for the monthly ROSC meeting. Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m. was a free screening of “Generation Found” at Lincoln Grand theater with resource tables available and a panel question and answer session. The movie is also available on Amazon Prime. There will be a repeat screening at the Arlee Theater in Mason City on March 23 at 1 p.m. ROSC is discussing creating a QR code with a pre and post survey for the round table discussion.

Molly McCain, Community Health Needs Assessment Coordinator for LMH, reported that substance use, youth mental health, and obesity are the top three concerns to come out of the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment, which are the same top three from the assessment three years ago. McCain conducted a focus group at Oxford House and has met with about seven other groups in the community so far. April 22 is the date scheduled for the advisory board meeting to narrow down the top three priorities. After additional meetings, the results will be posted online by October 1. After the results are compiled and posted, implementation will begin.

SUPC is planning the data collection phase of the environmental scan. A resource package is forthcoming. The 70+ alcohol licensed outlets in Logan County will fall under data collecting, not punitive measures. The data collection will involve working through a checklist including questions such as is the alcohol next to snacks or close to the door or are there special sales and deals and what kind of advertising is appealing to youth in the community? Data collection will be observational only, and most businesses are following the law. Businesses currently identified for data collection are a randomized selection with the goal of adding another 20 or so businesses.

Hope on Fifth is still under development. There is discussion about offering a room to Safe Passages while clients are in process. Organizers are also looking at providing a Veteran’s only support group at Hope on Fifth. Hope on Fifth also has a new Facebook page. The board continues to meet so that they can get things up and running. They know they will need help and donations, so they are getting the messaging together.

The process for getting Medical Assisted Recovery at the jail is ongoing. There are also self-help meetings starting at the county jail. Medical Assisted Recovery is administered through SIU. The extended shot is now available as an option.

Gateway Foundation in Bloomington had the grand opening for the new facility in Bloomington on Thursday, March 14.

Nadia Klekamp of Chestnut Health Systems spoke about The Center for Community Engagement at Chestnut Health Systems (www.coalitionsupport.org), which is a resource and is information heavy with toolkits for stigma reduction, transportation, and generally information that is pulled together. The organization helps build capacity to address problems. Trainings with CEUs are pending. Many trainings are archived and available. They are open to feedback.

McCain will be scheduling focus groups with highschoolers to talk about the kind of messaging they would prefer to receive from a text campaign about mental health and substance use to launch with freshmen at LCHS in the fall. This initiative is grant funded.

The Regional Substance Use Prevention Integration Center in mid-Illinois is an organization that works with any youth organizations or services to integrate substance use prevention into their programming or that would like to expand their integration or does not do substance use prevention yet.

Discussion arose about additional prevention ideas such as sharing stories from drug court with youth or schools and to reestablish Big Brother/Big Sister programs. There is a need to pour into youth, particularly with low self-esteem. There is always room for expansion.

Klekamp observed in the context of youth education that things seem to change more quickly now. The current youth prevention program is “Too Good for Drugs," which is a school program that is evidence-based curriculum. A facilitator works through scenarios and talks about a specific subject each session over a 10 or 11 week time span with goal setting, decision making, coping with emotions, and other topics.

In prevention strategies the question is always how can we increase protective factors, reduce risk factors, and increase communication of parents with students. Are students being monitored appropriately? How can community support increase? Prevention is a continuum, i.e. working with students who are in use versus those who have never used. Brain research indicates that 25 years old is the age of completed brain development, so scare tactic strategies are not effective for adolescents like they would be in adults. Youth prevention is more challenging because we do not see results right away. Equipping parents to talk with their kids is an important strategy. A seed may develop, but it might not happen right away. The D.A.R.E. program, which has been in existence for many years, creates the opportunity to build a relationship with law enforcement outside of a punitive situation. It is a program that is developed and adapted.

The next ROSC meeting is March 21. The next SUPC meeting is April 11. The Community Health Collaborative next meets at the Logan County Health Department on June 6.

[Stephanie Hall]