Creating a Resilient MHC will use the Strategic Prevention Framework to implement a comprehensive prevention approach, including a mix of evidence-based programs, policies, and/or practices that best address trauma, alcohol, tobacco (e-cigarettes), and all illicit drug use by using school-based education programs, community-based training, and building capacity in trauma-informed responses to change policies and/or practices. The target population is youth (ages birth-18) and their caregivers as well as adults in a rural Appalachian community, Henry County, that shares its geographical area with a small city, Martinsville.
This project has four goals: Goal 1: Align community partners to provide mutual support to ongoing efforts in the community that aim to reduce ACEs and substance use.
Goal 2: Increase the community capacity in Martinsville and Henry County to understand ACEs, their impacts, and how they can be prevented.
Goal 3: Increase prevention capacity at the community level through training Prevention Specialists and teachers in evidence-based programs targeting specific substances.
Goal 4: Decrease youth substance use in the community by implementing evidence-based programs throughout Martinsville and Henry County.
Piedmont will prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance misuse by creating trauma-informed communities that are aware of ACEs, their impacts, and how they can be prevented through ACE Interface trainings, by increasing effective family management and communication skills between parents and their children before their children enter adolescence with the Guiding Good Choices program and Strengthening Families home video, by increasing children's self-efficacy through the Positive Action program in grades k-3, by increasing protective factors and reducing risk factors for youth involved in the Alternative School through the Project Success program. These goals will be accomplished by collaborating with other agencies, networks, schools and youth-serving programs to provide at least 25 ACE Interface trainings annually, training at least 300 parents annually, and serving at least 600 youth annually. We will serve at least 1,500 adults and 3,000 youth over the course of this project.