Alliance for Better Communities - The Alliance for Better Communities is an established Drug Free Communities-funded coalition located in Jefferson County, New York, since 2012. Since its inception, the Alliance has utilized its experience in addressing youth substance use problems by effectively collecting and analyzing national, state, and local data and translating the data into action while employing SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework as its planning tool and by garnering support from all 12 community sectors.
Proposed Initiative: The Alliance, in conjunction with a master-level, Kripalu-certified yoga teacher, will train 20 teachers/social workers/administrators in six Jefferson County middle and high school buildings in Self-Regulation Training. The 20 trainers will provide training in their respective buildings for a total of 500 students in grades 7 – 12, per year, 2019, 2020, and 2021 for a total of 1,500 students.
The Alliance will build on the ongoing success of the Alliance and on the results of two Mindfulness Training pilot programs, henceforth referred to as Self-Regulation Training, conducted at a local middle school in school year 2016-2017 with 30 students participating. Participating students self-reported lower levels of anxiety, depression, higher levels of optimism and future orientation, improved academic success, and higher levels of commitment to school.
12-Month Action Plan: The Alliance will incorporate the Seven Levels of Community Change in its 12-Month Action Plan. The goals and strategies of the Alliance to achieve success for the proposed initiative are two-fold:
GOAL 1: Decrease youth access to and abuse of opioids, prescription medications and other illicit drugs via two strategies:
Strategy 1: strengthening existing school and public policies to prevent prescription drug use among 7-12 grade students in Jefferson County
Strategy 2: integrating Alliance activities into school district Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) plans and youth-serving organization’s strategic plans.
GOAL 2: Increase capacity of targeted community adults to assist youth to achieve positive outcomes as an alternative to using alcohol and opioids, prescription medications and other illicit drugs via two strategies:
Strategy 1: Increase parent involvement in Alliance activities to ensure positive outcomes for young people and communities
Strategy 2: Train 20 teachers, social workers, youth workers, and administrators to offer Self-Regulation Training sessions to students in grades 7-12.
National Research to Support the Project: According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the US National Library of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health in an article published on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27306732, which concluded that emotional regulation, planning and decision-making, and behavioral impulse- control training with students have a positive effect on regulating impulse control, reducing negative emotional states, and decreasing substance use in the adolescent population.
Additionally, school and extra-curricular demands and family stressors, as well as the added pressure of 24/7 availability via cell phones and social media, are extremely distracting and anxiety provoking. Consequently, youth experience increased levels of anxiety, depression,
insomnia, attention disorders…” Often, youth turn to “…unhealthy coping mechanisms like drugs and alcohol, to tune out or avoid the discomfort of their anxiety.” https://drugfree.org/parent-blog/school-stress-3-mindful-practices-calm-focused-happy-teens/
Amount of Funding Requested: The Alliance seeks $50,000 per year for the length of project period of three years.
