Cara - comprehensive addiction and recovery act - the partnership for health coalition serves a region within hunterdon county (HC), with a population of 64,020 that is incredibly beautiful and…

Cara - comprehensive addiction and recovery act - the partnership for health coalition serves a region within hunterdon county (HC), with a population of 64,020 that is incredibly beautiful and quiet suburban living. HC, which recently celebrated its 300TH birthday, is located an hour west of new york city and an hour northeast of philadelphia. In hunterdon county, NJ we have experienced a 46 percentage increase in opioid overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020 attributed to the high purity of fentanyl that has been mixed with heroin and counterfeit prescription pain pills (njcares.GOV). Risk factors identified: easy social access to RX drugs, low perception of risk or harm to misuse RX, social norms supportive of RX use, peer influence, over prescribed RX medicines; and availability/accessibility of heroin. Our youth subgroups at higher risk locally are lgbtq+, latinos, athletes, and youth in juvenile diversion. Our purpose is to prevent opioid/prescription drug misuse among 12 to 18 year old's by decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors. Outcomes: increase perception of harm, decrease access and availability, reduce, and prevent the use of opioids, change the culture and context regarding the acceptability of opioid and prescription drug misuse. Our strategies and activities build community solutions that incorporate aces (adverse childhood experiences) risk and protective factors utilizing the seven strategies for community change. The partnership for health coalition (PFH) aims to reduce the stigma and barriers around seeking mental health and substance misuse help through education and campaigns, especially for our high-risk subgroups. We will change the physical design by increasing safe RX storage within the home and reduce community barriers and increase access to RX disposal through mobile drop boxes. Our strategies will enhance youth refusal skills and knowledge on the dangers of opioids with a strong focus on fentanyl, through workshops and town halls. Two dedicated t own halls will be held entirely in spanish. PFH will provide information on dangers of heroin and counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl through psas on local cable, patient waiting rooms and social media. All information will be bilingual (spanish). We will enhance access to alternatives for pain management by working with the medical community and insurance companies to change policy and coverage. We will partner with lgbtq+ community groups to provide support, increase knowledge on risks, provide access to care and provide support by creating a youth lgbtq+ youth group to create PSA?s and campaigns to improve cultural competency and knowledge, and provide mentoring support and alternative activities. We aim to modify school policies to include health curriculum targeting opioids which will include fentanyl education; and to include a handle with care program which partners law enforcement and schools in supporting the needs of a child that has recently experienced trauma. We will modify school policy to require athletes to attend an education program on the risk of opioids. Our strategies will change consequences for youth substance use to include early intervention counseling. We will build community knowledge on ACE's risk factors by providing activities that include cross sector ACE's training, implementation of an aces public awareness and mobilization campaign, and promotion of trauma-informed/healing-centered services and supports. We will strengthen protective factors by increasing knowledge and access on alternative methods for managing pain, stress, and anxiety.