Thrive bedford/lewisboro/pound ridge - thrive project abstract the mission of the thrive coalition is to be a driving force for combating today's substance use and mental health challenges by…

Thrive bedford/lewisboro/pound ridge - thrive project abstract the mission of the thrive coalition is to be a driving force for combating today's substance use and mental health challenges by fostering healthy lifestyles through education, resources, and strategies in the bedford, lewisboro, and pound ridge communities. The coalition will prioritize shifting parent, school, and community attitudes to youth alcohol and marijuana use, and building capacity among youth to promote healthy behaviors, identify, and reach out to peers needing support in order to increase healthy behaviors. The goals of the coalition are to establish and strengthen community collaboration in support of local efforts to prevent youth substance use. The coalition will achieve its goals by implementing these strategies: development of coalition infrastructure and capacity; youth engagement; parental education; enforcement of underage drinking, marijuana laws; school and community policies. The coalition focuses on underage alcohol, marijuana use. The coalition will select environmental strategies that become self-sustaining through their use. For instance, as the various sectors are trained to implement environmental strategies (such as compliance checks) those skills endure beyond the life of the grant. In addition, the environmental strategies are geared toward changing local conditions and cultural norms. As these conditions and norms change, use rates will change as well and the reduced use rates will seek to reinforce and sustain the culture. The coalition will attain our goals by educating about effective prevention policies, training professionals and individuals that represent all 12 sectors in order to reach our goal of changing the culture and context in which youth make decisions through outreach and engagement to youth and parents. The coalition will employ the five steps (assessment, capacity, planning, implementation and evaluation) within the context of the two guiding principles (cultural competence and sustainability). The strategic prevention framework will be the foundation for the coalition workplan and the coalition initiatives as we frame our comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing the drugs of abuse and related behavioral health problems facing our youth and community.