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.
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
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. The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) provides a list of factors that put youth at risk and factors the protect youth from the impact of using substances.
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.
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
Did you know in about 1 in every 5 adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their life? And about 8% of children under 18 will experience symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder as well. Check out our episode on Anxiety Awareness with Psychology Professor and Mindfulness Educator Vasundhra Ganju.
Alcohol is the most widely misused substance among America's youth. Drinking by young people has big health and safety risks, check out our Community Conversation with Ryan Rivard from Riverside Community Care on Alcohol and Your Health.
October is Healthy Lung Month! We rarely think about breathing except when it's hard to do. Now more than ever it is important to educate ourselves and others of the importance of protecting our lungs. One way to protect our lungs is by not smoking or vaping, as we know vaping has reached epidemic levels in recent years.
Wrapping up Healthy Lung Month we talk about the harmful and mind altering effects of Marijuana. Tune in to learn more about Marijuana, information we feel you need to know and find useful information to talk to your teens about.
One of a parent’s worst nightmares is seeing their child become addicted to drugs or alcohol. Substance use disorders in teens leads to poor educational attainment, social and professional risks, physical harm and overdose. It’s critical that parents and guardians can recognize the symptoms of drug use, know where to turn to for help, and take action to get their child support.
With the goal in mind that “It takes a village to raise a child”, we would like to create the awareness that adults in the community play a very important role as part of a larger community support system for Lynnfield Youth. We will be discussing what it means to be a “Trusted Adult”. We’ll hear a little bit about the qualities and attributes of a trusted adult, some responsibilities and boundaries, and also the importance of supporting a child’s or a teen’s autonomy within their support systems.
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INTERFACE is a non-crisis, free and confidential help and referral line for Lynnfield residents that offers assistance with outpatient mental health counseling services and general mental health resources.
Available Monday through Friday.