Did you know that only 56% of Wayne County parents/caregivers have talked to their kids about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol, or drug use? But studies show teens are influenced by what their parents say. Take time to talk to your kids about alcohol use. For tips and statistics click here.
There are lots of small things we can all do to present positive norms in our community. For example, if a community has alcohol at every community event our kids start to associate drinking with “fun” community events. While it is fine for some community events to allow drinking, are we making sure there are activities that show our youth how to have fun without drinking? This is one extreme example, but our kids, our neighbors’ kids, and our other community members are looking to us for examples of how to live, learn and have fun. Let’s give them the best examples we can. Click here for more information on Community Norms.
Every 2 years local Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions help administer a student survey across the county asking youth about their substance or lack of use. Our last survey in 2019 showed some good and some challenging things. On the positive side we see that 75% of those surveyed said they had not drunk any alcoholic beverages and 82% said they had never vaped. This is great news, but 24% of our county’s young people said alcohol was easy or very easy to get and 22% said the same about vaping materials. Nearly a quarter of this county’s youth say it is easy to access these substances. This puts all or our youth at risk. That is why everyone in a community should be concerned about youth substance use. It affects our labor pool, our resident recidivism, and many other factors.
To learn more about the substance use prevention coalitions in our county or the data collected in the survey please reach out to Kristie Skaggs at OneEighty.
ACES- Adverse Childhood Experiences can have psychological effects on young minds as well as long term health complications that can come from reoccurring exposure.
- ACES include
- Abuse- physical, emotional, sexual
- Neglect- Physical and Emotional
- Household Dysfunction- Mental Illness, Mother treated violently, Divorce, Incarcerated Relative, Substance Use.
- Toxic Stress that someone may experience from ACES can have lifelong risks such as:
- Behavioral- smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity, drug abuse, and missing work.
- Physical and Mental- severe obesity, depression, diabetes, suicide attempts, STDs, chronic lung disease, stroke, cancer, heart disease, broken bones
- Please use the link here for a quick look at ACE’s
- Please use the link here for learn more
Red Ribbon Week will take place October 23-31, 2021. What is Red Ribbon Week? Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October.
We have teamed up with OneEighty, a local organization that provides many services to our community including addiction and substance use disorder services, to bring you tips and information pertinent to Red Ribbon Week!
Learn more about OneEighty by visiting https://www.one-eighty.org/.