Resilience WV - a comprehensive approach to substance abuse prevention in 8 West Virginia counties focused on youth and adults who are at high risk or showing early signs of substance use disorder. - Resilience WV is a comprehensive approach to substance abuse prevention in Appalachian communities which: ♦adds new strategies to prevent onset or use of nicotine (including vaping/e-cigarettes), stimulants & opioids; ♦expands current prevention capacity; & ♦secures a region-wide, evidenced-based strategic framework w/flexibility to address the shifting drugs of choice. Resilience WV services focus on West Virginia Region 3, comprised of Wood, Wirt, Tyler, Pleasants, Roane, Ritchie, Jackson & Calhoun counties. Region 3 is also the geographic service area for Westbrook Health Services, Inc., a community-based comprehensive behavioral health center & the applicant. Resilience WV targets over 24,000 school-age youth (K-12th); adults attending local colleges, working adults, children & families receiving primary care or health care from a public health dept, youth participating in youth service organization activities & youth who are most likely at higher risk or showing early signs of substance use disorder, including those in foster care, living in poverty or with serious emotional disturbance or serious mental illness. Strategies & interventions focus on the program goals of expanding the capacity of the existing prevention infrastructure of the 8 public school districts in Region 3 (Goal 1) and increasing the prevention capacity of Region 3 (Goal 2). Strategies/interventions are: training teachers & staff in each Region 3 school on evidence-based prevention practices; establishing youth engagement opportunities in schools for high risk youth & implementing a culturally competent, evidence-based universal prevention program in each school. Other interventions include developing prevention education presentations to promote message consistency and implementing message delivery throughout the area. This includes presentations to young adults at area colleges, individuals at local health depts, youth service orgs - i.e. (YMCA, Boys/ Girls clubs), veterans & recovery organizations, & local manufacturers. In addition to training teachers /staff in prevention methods & implementing universal prevention practices in county schools, delivery methods include health fairs, prevention information distribution, speaking engagements & use of various media sources. Sustainability (Goal 3) is integrated into the program design. As staff are trained in prevention practices, they will, in turn, be able to train other staff so that the programming perpetuates itself beyond grant funding. Prevention materials will be developed that can be re-used for distribution. A framework of community organizations will be established that can be utilized for other prevention efforts as the area drug of choice changes. Performance measures to be collected include: ⁕# of community prevention activities conducted, ⁕# of individuals participating in such activities, and ⁕extent to which the National Outcome Measures have improved in the community (i.e. abstinence from substance use; employment; housing; & criminal justice status). The status of the goals & objectives will be regularly reviewed by the project team & epidemiologist. Resilience WV expects to impact at least 5,000 people yearly for a total of 25,000 people over the 5-year grant period;14 collaborators have agreed to participate.
