Prevention Council

Providing Substance Abuse Education, Information and Referral Services

Capital Region nonprofits win grants to expand addiction recovery services

Seen in: Times Union

Monday, March 4, 2019

ALBANY — Two Capital Region nonprofits that assist people in recovery from addiction were awarded state funding Friday to establish and expand recovery services in their communities.

Second Chance Opportunities, an Albany nonprofit that helps individuals fresh out of addiction treatment find stable housing and employment, was awarded $350,000 to establish a recovery community center in Albany.

The center will be located at 55 Colvin Ave., where the nonprofit moved its headquarters last November. Co-founder Kellie Roe told the Times Union at the time that she always intended to open a community center in the space, regardless of whether her organization won a state grant, which was awarded through a competitive Request for Applications process.

“The community needs this,” she said. “We’ve been at this too long, we’ve been filling this gap for too long not to give the community this.”

At Second Chance Opportunities, the grant will allow Roe to hire a manager for the community center, a coordinator and a recovery coach.

The Prevention Council of Saratoga County was also awarded funding — $80,000 to expand services at its recovery community center at 125 High Rock Ave. in Saratoga Springs.

The center, known as Healing Springs, hosts mutual aid groups, yoga and meditation classes, and sober social events around the Super Bowl, Labor Day and other holidays. It also provides family support navigators to those who are wondering how to assist loved ones through recovery.

New York has pushed for the creation of recovery community centers in recent years, as the state battles an overdose epidemic and a growing number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction.

The state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services announced Friday more than $5.1 million in funding to establish 14 new recovery community centers across the state, and expand services at two existing recovery centers.

The centers promote long-term recovery by providing professional staff, peers and volunteers to engage and support people in recovery. Services include peer support, skill building, recreation, wellness education, employment readiness and sober social activities.

Letter to the editor: Local drug drop boxes promoted

Seen in: The Post Star

Editor:

As our communities continue to be impacted by opioid addiction, we are promoting local drug drop boxes to provide a safe and accessible option to dispose of prescription or over-the-counter medications. Emptying the medicine cabinet can prevent children and others from obtaining and misusing these medications. It’s important to properly dispose of unused, excess or expired medications to keep our local waterways from being contaminated. Disposal is free and anonymous at the two permanent drop box locations in our area: the Warren County Sheriff’s Office located at 1400 Route 9, Lake George and Glens Falls City Police Department located at 42 Ridge St., Glens Falls. These sites are open 24/7 and your medication can be in the container or in a bag. Just get it out of your home!

The Community Coalition for Family Wellness (CCFW) in South Glens Falls and The Prevention Council of Saratoga County advocate for proper disposal of unused prescription medications. Take advantage of these permanent drop boxes and keep an eye out for our annual National DEA Drug Take Back Day in April!

Alex Barr, The Prevention Council of Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs

Editorial: Arrest a reminder of dangers of underage drinking

Seen in: The Daily Gazette
Link to full article: https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/01/13/editorial-arrest-a-reminder-of-dangers-of-underage-drinking

For many kids, exposure to alcohol at a young age can be a harbinger of other problems

What’s the big deal?

The kids were all in the house. They were safe. They weren’t out running the streets causing trouble. They weren’t doing hard drugs.

So what’s the problem when adults condone underage drinking in their home?

That’s the question a lot of people might be asking following the arrest of a Wilton couple and their 20-year-old son for hosting an underage drinking party on New Year’s Eve.

In all, about a dozen kids age 17-20 were at the party, where the adults supplied the alcohol, the venue and the alibi.

In the wake of the opioid epidemic, bullying, distracted driving, the dangers associated with social media, and other issues facing teenagers these days, it would be easy to push underage drinking to the bottom of the worry pile.

But underage drinking is now, just as it was a decade ago and decades before that, a pervasive problem in our society that we can’t afford to stop taking seriously.

According to the Prevention Council — a Saratoga Springs-based nonprofit organization that works to prevent alcohol, drug and other substance abuse — alcohol remains the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States.

Each year in the U.S., more than 4,300 people die as a result of underage drinking — either through motor vehicle accidents, suicide and homicide, and accidental overdose.

When parents condone or — in the Wilton case — encourage and support underage drinking, they’re contributing to the damaging effects that alcohol has both immediately and in the long-term on children who are too young to handle it.

According to the Prevention Council, 11 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States is by underage drinkers, age 12-20.

Within any 30-day period, more than a quarter of kids will consume alcohol and more than 17 percent of that group will binge drink, which can lead to alcohol poisoning and other issues.

Drinking, especially by youth, can contribute to a whole host of health and social issues, including poor attendance and performance in school; dangerous and inappropriate decisions due to behavioral issues; problems with memory and thinking; depression; low-self esteem and in some cases suicide.

Young women and girls in particular can often find themselves in dangerous situations due to alcohol use that can lead to rape and sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.

While kids today seem to be more cognizant of the dangers of drunk driving and have more means than older generations to get home safely, such as ride-sharing and cabs, many kids still make the bad judgment of drinking and driving. And when kids do it, they’re often distracted by friends in the car and their phones, which can make their adventures on the road even more dangerous to themselves, their passengers and other motorists.

For many kids, exposure to alcohol at a young age can be a harbinger of other problems, including abuse of tobacco and drugs and alcohol-dependency as adults.

When parents support their children’s drinking by hosting parties for them and their friends, it sends the message that there’s no harm in what they’re doing.

That potential harm is the precise reason why we place age limits on alcohol and tobacco consumption in the first place.

But if parents and other adults — the people who have direct contact and influence with children — don’t understand or respect the problems that alcohol use among young people can cause, then the threat to our children’s health and well-being will continue and get worse.

Underage drinking was and is still a serious problem.

We need to continue to take it seriously and to do what we can, starting in our own households, to stop it.

Media must tell the truth about gambling

Seen in: The Daily Gazette

October 5, 2017

Letter to the Editor:

I currently work for The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council of Saratoga County as the youth outreach coordinator, partnering with the New York Council on Problem Gambling on the You(th) Decide Project. I’m writing to express my concern regarding media literacy.

Despite the fact that gambling is illegal for anyone under the age of 18, approximately 68 percent of American youth between the ages of 14 and 21 report having gambled in the last year.

Media could be one of the reasons why so many kids are gambling. Media is all around us. We receive messages through television, radio, billboards, print publications, the internet and many other ways.

Gambling is usually shown as exciting, fun and a way to financial freedom, while stories of gambling addiction and related loss of large sums of money, jobs and relationships too often go untold.

When you are watching a movie or TV show, looking at a magazine or website, pay close attention to the messages that are being sent. Who are they targeting? What are they trying to entice that person to do or to buy? Are the messages realistic? Are they telling you the whole story?

Know all the facts before you decide.

Kara James

Saratoga Springs

Letter to the Editor: Saratoga County Could Raise the Age

Seen in: The Saratogain 

Twelve counties across NYS have changed the age of purchase for tobacco from 18 to 21. Saratoga County could be the next to adopt a law that will save future lives from nicotine addiction.

As The Director for School Based Education for The Prevention Council of Saratoga County, I would like to share some information relevant to this topic. My colleagues and I travel to twelve school districts within Saratoga County delivering evidence based drug and alcohol prevention curriculum to students in grades K-12. Kid’s attitudes towards alcohol and drugs differ dramatically depending on their developmental stage. As students enter middle and high school, they develop more favorable attitudes towards drugs based on advertising, media, peers and a lack of seeing or acknowledging real consequences of using these products.

Research shows that delaying the age of use, lowers the risk of addiction for many drugs including, but not limited to, tobacco. Most of this research focuses on brain development and the fact that the adolescent brain is still not fully developed until the mid-twenties, and therefore more susceptible to addiction. Raising the purchase age until 21 will limit access to tobacco products for younger adolescents and therefore result in lower risk of addiction and tobacco related diseases.

For kids alive today, 4.2 million years of life would be saved by virtue of this logical, simple policy change. Other important impacts include a 12 percent decline in premature births and 16 percent drop in SIDS cases. Most adults favor making 21 the minimum age of sale for tobacco products. If Saratoga County chooses to raise the age of tobacco purchase to 21 years old, they will be creating a healthier community for all of us.

Jennifer Oliver-Goodwin,
Director of School Based Education
The Prevention Council of Saratoga County

 

 

Great way to get dirty: Hundreds attend Tuff eNuff Challenge

Featured in: The Saratogian
Story by: Paul Post

Link to full article: http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/20170603/great-way-to-get-dirty-hundreds-attend-tuff-enuff-challenge

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Compared to what’s coming, a 5K obstacle course was a cakewalk for 18-year-old Silas Dionne of Corinth.

PHOTOS: 2017 TUFF ENUFF CHALLENGE

On June 12, he’ll be headed to U.S. Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., where grueling drills start early and last throughout the day.

Dionne and his brother, Elijah, and sister and brother-in-law, Harmony and Brandon Wagner, were among the 600 people who slogged through mud, climbed hills and navigated water-filled ditches on Saturday in the Tuff eNuff Challenge, a Prevention Council fundraising event.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Harmony Wagner said.

“I’m not worried about him, he’ll do fine down there,” her husband said.

“I think he’s ready for it (the Marines),” Elijah Dionne said.

Tuff eNuff is character building, too, and fits in with the Prevention Council’s mission of “Helping Youth Navigate Life’s Challenges” by avoiding drugs and alcohol.

 

The day’s activities started with a 1K kids run, followed by the 5K for adults, which went off in three separate waves of runners.

The emphasis isn’t on winning, although 19-year-old Chase Collins of Saratoga Springs was the first to cross the finish line, among first-wave entrants, in a time of 22:59.

His prize?

“A mud pie,” Collins said grinning.

Tom Portuese, of Queensbury, finished close on his heels. His three sons — Tim, Andy and Marcus — completed the 1K course.

“It’s a great way to get dirty and get some exercise with the kids,” Portuese said. “The mud just keeps coming — waves and waves of it.”

The course, at the F. Donald Myers Education Center on Henning Road, was prepared by BOCES heavy equipment operator students. BOCES kids also helped out with security and parking, and culinary students offered refreshments.

The race, in its sixth year, is sponsored by AYCO, whose TeamWorks Program volunteers helped mark the course.

“We couldn’t do this without the help of our community volunteers, many of whom return year after year because this event is so special,” said Erin Smith, volunteer coordinator.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Louis Falcon, a Spa City resident, took a day off from duties at Fort Drum, where he’s stationed, to compete in Tuff eNuff. Like a true warrior, he came dressed in a gold plastic Spartan’s helmet, accompanied by his 5-year-old son, Maddox, who did the kids run.

“It’s intense, it’s fun and you get a good workout,” Falcon said. “And no one’s yelling at you. I could do 15 miles of this. I’m going to tell my soldiers to come next year.

County Leaders Unite to Fight Drug Addiction

April 13, 2017
Story by: Larry Goodwin
Seen in: Saratoga Today
Link to article: https://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/home/item/6395-county-leaders-united-to-fight-drug-addiction

 

WILTON — With his laptop in hand on a recent Thursday evening, James Norton politely informed the Wilton Town Board about his group’s coordinated efforts to tackle opioid addiction in local communities.

“If you have any questions as to how we, as a government, can help your organization, let us know,” responded Wilton Supervisor Arthur Johnson. “It really is a big problem in this area.”

Norton, a coordinator for The Prevention Council in Saratoga Springs, shared his findings with the board on April 6. He said drug addiction is not caused solely by heroin and fentanyl sold illegally in the streets.

He talked about the hundreds of pounds of prescription pills—most containing synthetic opiates—that people have thrown out during drug take-back events.

Norton said more than half of “misused medications” are emanating from cabinets inside the homes of friends or families, which often leads to more serious problems.

“Four out of five individuals in treatment for heroin misuse started with a prescription opioid,” Norton says in a written compilation of his research.

“There has been a 222 percent increase in treatment rates in upstate New York and a 136 percent increase statewide,” Norton added.

He also described the measurable impacts on both drugged and drunk driving.

“The younger generations tend to drive under the influence of drugs more than they do alcohol,” Norton said.

Norton went on to promote the next prescription drug take-back event scheduled for April 29, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., at eight locations from Clifton Park to Moreau.

The Prevention Council supports a variety of programs that are aimed at young people and funded mostly through state and federal grants. The group “is always looking for new members” to help out, Norton told the board in Wilton.

The council’s motto is “Helping Youth Navigate Life’s Challenges.” It is part of a coalition of groups and law-enforcement agencies organizing the pill take-back events, including another on August 26, with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

On May 10 at the South Glens Falls High School, the group Community Coalition for Family Wellness is organizing more informative presentations on the subject of “Addiction and the Opioid Epidemic.” That event starts at 6 p.m.

“We’ve got to get the drugs out of the medicine cabinets,” insisted Janine Stuchin, executive director of The Prevention Council, in a subsequent interview arranged by Norton.

Stuchin admitted her surprise three years ago when a family member was prescribed two bottles of painkillers for the removal of a wisdom tooth. Many of those pills went unused and were later discarded, she said.

According to Stuchin, there was a time when opioids were prescribed by doctors only for intensive medical care at the end of life. But by the late 1990s, she said, economic markets motivated doctors to rely more heavily on pills for all sorts of “palliative” relief among their patients.

That, in turn, fueled much higher abuse rates for opioids, which are classified in federal law among the most addictive of all drugs.

Stuchin thinks that medical professionals should prioritize finding solutions for such problems right alongside cancer research. But the public stigma of opioid addiction prevents the emergence of more compassionate strategies, she added.

“People relapse with addiction,” Stuchin said, “and they need community support.”

The Prevention Council, in conjunction with Project Safe Point, offers training classes and free kits every month to parents, teachers, nurses and many others to administer the nasal spray Naloxone (or Narcan), which can prevent opioid overdoses.

According to Mike McEvoy, a coordinator for Saratoga County Emergency Medical Services, there was a substantial increase last year in overdose calls to 911— an average of roughly 30 per week—but they appear to be decreasing in frequency.

“There are occasional spikes but the steady increase we had been seeing prior to and during 2016 seems to have leveled off,” McEvoy said in an email.

Saratoga County Commissioner of Mental Health, Dr. Michael Prezioso, said equally important addiction services are provided to individuals by emergency departments, drug courts, counselors and treatment centers.

He said establishing short-term detox facilities also should be considered by local officials as a means to address drug addiction.

“It’s not just the arrests” that make a difference, Prezioso said.

On April 10, both Prezioso and Saratoga County Director of Public Health, Catherine Duncan, were scheduled to give reports to the county’s Public Health Committee.

At that meeting, Duncan was pressed on efforts being made in the county to counteract drug addiction.

She explained that her department, among other measures, is working with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to reduce drug problems during seasonal concerts.

Clifton Park Supervisor Philip Barrett ended the discussion by emphasizing how the Saratoga County Sheriff ’s Office routinely posts related updates on its Facebook page.

A major difficulty, according to Barrett, is that certain opioids are “easy to get” and “cheap” in the streets. He said those basic facts affect “every single community in the country.”

Saratoga County High School Students Have Fun Tackling Serious Issues

Story By: Lou Roberts
Featured on: 101.3 The Jockey

Link to full article: http://1013thejockey.com/saratoga-county-high-school-students-have-fun-tackling-serious-issues-photos/

Several students from high schools in Saratoga County joined forces at Skidmore College yesterday (March 16) at the 35th annual Safe Spring Leadership Conference. Safe Spring is held by The Prevention Council. The conference featured various seminars and workshops that gave the students skills to use for their local groups for issues like drinking and driving, bullying, suicide prevention, tobacco marketing towards young people, media literacy, e-cigarettes and several other.

Thanks to Heather LaSalvia, I was asked to help judge a public service announcement (p.s.a.) competition in the workshop where the participating students wrote copy for a p.s.a. to make kids aware of how the tobacco industry targets them. The student with the winning p.s.a’s. will come into the 1-0-1-3 The Jockey studios and record it. After the p.s.a. is produced, we’ll be putting it on the air.

When we all gathered for lunch, everyone was treated to music from d.j. Andy Pratt. That’s when the students got a chance to cut loose and dance. I took some pictures many of the groups from the schools that were participating

Partnership with Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office

February 9, 2017

The Sheriff’s Office is happy to announce that it has received a Ver-Mac® PCMS-320 trailer mounted portable changeable message sign that will be used to combat “drugged driving.” The sign was purchased under the Partnership for Success grant through the Community Coalition for Family Wellness (CCFW). The Prevention Council is the fiscal agent for the CCFW.

The device will see extensive use at sobriety checkpoints and to provide messaging for these events and other DWI/DWAI enforcement details. The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the CCFW and the Prevention Council for their continued partnership in ensuring a safe, drug-free community for the residents of Saratoga County.

Non-alcoholic Sober Bowl party to be held for recovering alcoholics

Featured on: WNYT New Channel 13
Story by: Nia Hamm

Link to full article: http://wnyt.com/news/non-alcoholic-sober-bowl-party-to-be-held-for-recovering-alcoholics/4391402/

Saratoga Springs — Staff at Saratoga Stadium in Saratoga Springs expect huge crowds at the sports bar for Super Bowl Sunday.

“There’s a lot more food ordering a lot more beer and alcohol,” said Saratoga Stadium Manager Lisa Vigliotti. “So just making sure we’re ready stocked and ready to go,” she said.

Alcohol at a Super Bowl event or party can be a problem for recovering alcoholics.

Brian Farr, who is the chairperson of Recovery Advocacy in Saratoga, or RAIS, has a solution.

“We came up with the idea of the Super Bowl last year when we decided that we would like to do something on the Super Bowl that doesn’t involve drinking,” Farr said.

Farr is in recovery and has been sober for 20 years.

He is also a substance abuse counselor at Saint Peters Hospital.

“Being around alcohol just like being around other drugs can be very triggering,” Farr said. “It can be very difficult for someone. If you had quit smoking you wouldn’t want to be around people smoking cigarettes,” he said.

No alcohol? No problem.

Farr said there will be plenty of food, non-alcoholic drinks and tailgating games.”

This is the second year RAIS is hosting the alcohol-free Sober Bowl party. This year’s event will be held at the Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church.

“Our church post different recovery group almost every night of the week,” said Associate Pastor Drew Sperry.

Sperry said some of the former addicts he works with tell him this is what they need.

“They’re in a place where they don’t have a lot of friends or family to celebrate the Super Bowl with and that can also be hard for some people and lead them to make and unhealthy choices.>

Church member Peter Elmendorf agrees.

“It’ll be the second super bowl that I’ve gone to since I quit drinking 36 years ago,” Elmendorf said. “The first one that I went to was right after I quit drinking and I realize that wasn’t a place that I wanted to be,” he said.

“You don’t need alcohol to have a good time to watch a good game,” Vigliotti said.

The event is also for family and friends of people in recovery.

Organizers say events like this also help remove the sigma around addiction.