A Healthy Lynnfield Substance Use Prevention Coalition
A Framework for Prevention
Promoting Positive Experiences for All Youth
Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) are experiences in childhood that relate to children’s ability to have safe, stable, nurturing, and equitable relationships and environments. PCEs can help children develop a sense of belonging, connectedness, and build resilience.
Research has shown that Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) help children grow into healthy, resilient adults.
There are 4 building blocks of PCE's. By engouraging caring, trusted relationships between youth and adults, promtoing postive behaviors and establishing norms for healthy behaivors in our community, by engaging youth in pro-social activities, and by supporting social-emotional growth, we can effectively mitigate risk for subtance misuse and promote resliency.
HOPE Across Systems
Much of our work at A Healthy Lynnfield is designed around a building a comprehensive, sustainable, community prevention partnership and addressing
Individual-level interventions
Change the way young people think about substances, so they are better able to resist pressures to use
School-based interventions
Provide students with the knowledge, skills, motivation, and opportunities they need to remain drug-free
Family-based interventions
Empower parents to set and enforce clear rules against drinking, as well as improve communication between children and parents about alcohol
Community-based interventions
Coordinated efforts across organizations to mitigate risk factors for substance misuse such as changing norms and behaviors that support use
Policy-level interventions
Makes substances harder to get-for example, by raising the price or increasing fines or consequences for selling to minors
Prevention & Positive Youth Development
Why Prevention?
Prevention helps people develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to make good choices or change harmful behaviors. Primary prevention aims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs.
For example, research shows that people who start drinking before the age of 15 have a 5x higher risk for developing alcohol use disorder later in life. Preventing harmful behaviors in youth can prevent long-term health consequences.
Why Youth?
Because Lynnfield cares about our future generation. A Healthy Lynnfield uses a Positive Youth Development (PYD) Framework as part of our community prevention approach.
Positive Experience + Positive Relationships + Positive Environments = Positive Youth Development
Reduce Risk, Increase Protection?
The more we create a community environment that supports healthy decisions, the healthier our youth will be. By reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors associated with substance use and mental health we can help keep Lynnfield youth healthy
What Works?
What is more effective in prevention? Building early skills and social competence, peer-led programs, positive norms, and meaningful consequences. What is less effective? Scare tactics, one time assemblies and events, testimony from people in recovery, mock car crashes, moralistic approaches and more. Read Prevention, What Works? for more information.