SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION DAY 2022
Substance Abuse Prevention (SAP) Day at the Capitol was held on February 24th, 2022 in the James H. “Sloppy” Floyd building just across from the State Capitol building. Unfortunately, due to COVID precautions, we were unable to host activities at the State Capitol Building but that in no way diminished the impact of that day!
The theme was “Tune into 2022” and we did just that!
We had two keynote speakers for the day. Vinayak Menon was the youth speaker. Vinayak is a junior at Lambert High School in Suwanee, Georgia, and the Youth Sector Leader for the Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council. He brought a powerful and inspiring speech about how youth can positively advocate for substance abuse prevention. He is truly a role model already having received several awards and accolades for his work in substance abuse prevention. Watch his speech on the video below. (LEFT VIDEO)
Carlton Hall was also a keynote speaker. He is the President and CEO of Carlton Hall Consulting LLC. Carlton spent twelve years with the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) serving in several leadership positions and including most recently, Acting Vice President, Training Operations, and Acting Director for CADCA’s National Coalition Institute, responsible for the day to day operational oversight, design, and implementation of its premiere national training delivery system. Carlton delivered an amazing presentation on prevention and substance abuse prevention and why this work is so critical now! Watch his presentation on the video above. (RIGHT VIDEO)
In addition to our keynote speakers, we heard from others working on Substance Abuse Prevention across the state. We had 200 participants, both youth and adults, in attendance. The event was hybrid, with attendees “Tuning into 2022” both virtually and in person.
The purpose of SAP Day is to create awareness of substance abuse and mental health issues and to provide education and resources related to prevention advocacy at the state and community level.
SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY 2022
Suicide Prevention (SP) Day was held on March 30th, 2022. Due to COVID precautions, we were unable to host our activities in the Georgia Capitol building so we held the entire event at the James H. “Sloppy” Floyd building across from the Georgia Capitol building. Close enough, right?
Our theme for this year was “Creating Hope Through Action.” We had a great group of youth join us in the room and virtually. Looking out at them and hearing from them truly created hope and inspired us to action in our respective communities.
Travianna Enoch was the youth speaker, and Kevin Hines was the keynote speaker. Travianna, a student at Fort Valley State University, shared her experience in high school with suicidal thoughts. She reached out and was provided the help she needed. She now wants to be that help for so many others. Travianna’s message can be viewed below. It starts at the 36 minute mark.
If you haven’t heard Kevin Hines’ story, you definitely want to watch the video below. His talk starts at the 56 minute mark. Kevin shared his inspiring story of resilience after being placed in foster care and later attempting suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, an act that has taken the life of 99% of the people who have jumped from that bridge. Kevin’s story will make you think about how we can help people, even strangers, in the smallest moments of life. Kevin is an engaging storyteller, best-selling author, global public speaker, and award-winning documentary filmmaker.
The primary focus of SP Day is to create awareness around suicide prevention and mental health issues and to foster action through education of prevention advocacy at the state and community level. We had 250 attendees both virtually and in person. From the engagement with one another to the messages from our speakers to the insights shared by the youth, we all left with the theme in our hearts and in our feet, “Creating Hope Through Action.”
Ester Lopez from Voices for Prevention (V4P) stated, “Substance Abuse Prevention Day and Suicide Prevention Day at the Capitol were huge successes. Attendees at each event received educational materials as well as information on how to advocate for substance abuse prevention and suicide prevention throughout the state of Georgia. We’re excited to see the ripple effect these events have on the prevention field.
ADVOCACY
Riding the coattails of both Substance Abuse Prevention Day and Suicide Prevention Day we want to continue the momentum and message of advocacy!
Did you know that V4P has created an Advocacy Toolkit? While it’s designed for beginners, there is still tons of information that will serve as a great refresher for even experienced advocates.
Check it out here. https://v4pga.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/advocacy_toolkit.pdf
YOUTH
This section of our newsletter serves several purposes and they all are geared toward supporting youth education and advocacy around substance abuse and suicide prevention. In order to do that we need your input.
- We want to highlight the work that youth are doing across the state to promote substance abuse and suicide prevention in ways big and small. And really no act is small because even the small acts when joined together can create massive change.
- The second purpose of this section is to share prevention activities and events that are geared toward youth. So if you are a V4P member (yep, membership has its privileges) and you have an event or activity that is open to youth across the state, please let us know. We’d love to help you get the word out via our newsletter and social media platforms. Send your info to ndensmore@livedrugfree.org
- Lastly, this section is to offer resources to youth and youth leaders to help you increase their understanding and awareness of substance abuse and suicide prevention advocacy. With being said, are there any resources or information that would be helpful to you in doing prevention and advocacy in your community?
For instance, did you know we offer a FREE advocacy toolkit for youth? It’s an evidence-based model created by Dover Youth2Youth. The toolkit is jammed packed with templates, activities, lessons, and more for youth to understand, implement, and assess their advocacy efforts in their community. Please contact Nicole Densmore at ndensmore@livedrugfree.org if you are interested.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
V4P wants to hear from you.
Youth Action Teams
Share with V4P
Our readers come to V4P to hear and learn what is happening in the world of suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention. We strive to gain as much information as possible to share with V4P members and others across the state because knowledge is power.
V4P wants to hear from you! We invite you to let us know if you are having any future advocacy events, whether it’s a webinar or virtual event that is open to the public that you would like to share. We call on our youth to send in articles and input for ways we can advocate for suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention. If you know of any Office of Behavioral Health Prevention and Federal Grants (OBHPFG) provider activity updates for the state of Georgia, please share them. We encourage all members to let us know if you have any accomplishments of individual members and member organizations that you would like to announce. Click the link below to share and we look forward to hearing from you
V4P Free Membership
To become a member with V4P is free. Membership includes exclusive webinars, networking opportunities, and much more. You can also be involved with V4P events via our social media accounts. Our social media handle on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook is V4PGA. So, click that follow button and be a part of the V4PGA experience!
Upcoming Events
May
May- Mental Health Awareness Month
May 1-7- Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
May 11 – V4P Member Call
May 10-17- National Prevention Week
May 31- World No Tobacco Day
June
June 8 – GA Suicide Prevention Coalitions Meeting
June 15- 3rd Quarter GPDAPI Collaborative meeting
Inspirational Thought
As we are slowly coming out of the shell of the pandemic, it can sometimes be tough to re-engage with community members you haven’t seen in person in nearly two years. Here are a few basic things to consider.
- Give yourself and others grace and space as needed. While we have all been in the same storm (pandemic), we have all not been in the same boat. We’ve experienced the pandemic collectively and individually. It’s okay that we aren’t the same in our approach to returning to face-to-face connections.
- Be kind, even overly so. It’s needed and can mean the world to someone.
- Smile, even if you still are wearing a mask. It still shows up on your face and others can “see” it.
- Be mindful of how you greet people. Some will want to hug. While others will be good with a fist or elbow bump. And even others want nothing more than a wave or a head nod. Be sensitive to that and honor their boundaries.
Check out DBHDD’s Resiliency Toolkit website for more ways to connect and reenter “outside” after the pandemic. https://resiliencytoolkit.org/