Preventing Youth Substance Use
As part of its 10-year, $12 million investment in preventing substance use disorders, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation made 25 grants in 2013 totaling $1.7 million. About $1.2 million of those grants funded prevention efforts, the rest supported policy and advocacy work. Grants included $241,000 to the Life of an Athlete program and $186,000 to the Partnership for a Drug-Free NH, which has launched a new statewide media awareness campaign called Check the Stats.
The Check the Stats campaign targets parents and caregivers of children ages 9 to 17 in New Hampshire, encouraging them to recognize the significant rates of youth substance misuse that plague the state. Learn more about this campaign and how to protect your children at www.checkthestatsnh.org.
The Charitable Foundation supported a pilot project to implement the SBIRT protocol (screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment) in one health center. The success of that pilot prompted the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to make a $2.25 million grant to the Charitable Foundation to support implementation of the protocol in health settings across the state to screen youth and young adults. A projected 10,000 young people will be screened by 2017.
Behind the numbers are the stories – experiences of those who have struggled with addiction and found recovery. In raising their voices, they join the chorus of those who are working to raise awareness and prevent more youth from being lost to a diseases that plagues so many.
Talk to your children. Take advantage of the resources that are available.
And one more thing…
Please take a moment to watch Alex tell his story in the video below. He’s typical of many young people here in New Hampshire – and in a way, one of the lucky ones, who is on the road to recovery from addiction.
