GRANT TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE (GRAA)- Linn County

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1 GRANT TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE (GRAA)- Linn County Volume 1, Issue 4 January 2010 Special points of interest: Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol CMCA updates Youth Advocacy Work Adventure and Service Activities Counseling Services Inside this issue: Student Advocacy Groups Leadership and Resliency Program Substance Abuse Counseling 2 & 5 3 & 4 The fall semester was a busy one again for our community efforts. Just before school started our project sent four high school students and two law enforcement officers to the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Conference. One of the many ideas we gained at that conference was to continue working together to educate the community and other law enforcement agencies in Linn County about our newly adopted Social Host ordinance. As students were heading back to school, community events were still happening. 5 UDETC conference attendees in Dallas At Springville, the SOAP group organized a Teen Dance for their annual Fun Days. CPU SUD kids and adults walked in parades in both of their community s events. Underage drinking warning signs and other signs with a Show Me message were hung for these events. A few individuals in charge of serving alcohol to adults at these events were trained at our server trainings. Fall also brought homecoming festivities. Mount Vernon s Above the Influence and MS TADA kids had an award winning homecoming parade entry and the Central City Get a Grip students also walked in their parade handing out post- cards reminding parents to talk to their kids and reminding students to be safe. We also hosted an Addiction Intervention speaker around National Recovery Month in September. The first round of alcohol compliance checks were conducted in rural Linn County by the Sheriff s Office. It had been several years since any had been done in our area. This is something the CMCA model and groups had been encouraging since we began 2 years ago. One of our CMCA trained students helped conduct the check. Cont. on p. 2 MV Above the Influence and TADA Homecoming parade entry first place! CPU SUD Parade Float

2 GRANT TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE(GRAA)- Linn Page 2 CMCA/Student Advocacy Groups Cont. from p. 1 October - December we helped local law enforcement hold three more TIPS alcohol seller/server trainings. Again, 28 more individuals from 11 businesses in 5 communities completed the course. We have now trained 90 employees total in under 2 years. Another training will be conducted this winter. During the fall, parents of over 1600 students pledged to have save supervised environments in their homes for their children s friends to visit and to call each other when their children were gathering. We distributed directories to 750 families including other interesting resources. In late November, all of our community committees gathered to discuss coming together again to write a new grant to keep our community coalition efforts going and broaden them to include preventing other drug use, rather than solely focusing on underage drinking. The group decided on a new name for themselves, RC RAIL (Rural Communities Rising Above the Influence in Linn). We have many things around the corner including the Day on the Hill event where we will help with the statewide Social Host issue. We are planning for spring already with Town Hall meetings and a Save a Life Tour and other preprom and graduation events. Please join us in any way you can. Call for meeting times. As a next step to the parent pledges, we held a family event in October at Mount Vernon Middle School called the Mustang Mixer. The event included questions to get parents and families to know each other better during a wonderful meal and workshops for parents on signs of substance abuse, local trends law enforcement sees, middle school prevention curriculum, and dealing with family/child substance abuse issues. The night concluded with games for the students and their parents. We are hosting similar events at the other schools this winter/spring. Before the holidays, Dawn Farmer, our co-chair for CPU SUD, distributed Celebrate with Care material at a couple local holiday events. We had a good turnout of 31 people coming together to talk about what the needs continue to be in the communities of rural Linn County. We will continue these discussions coming up with a new action plan together as we submit the application in March. Central City s Get a Grip students in a summer parade and Homecoming parade. MV TADA students greeted families at the community safety fair and distributed information to children and parents. MV Students for Positive Choices distributing bracelets during Red Ribbon Week. Student Advocacy Groups by Anthony Jensen Center Point-Urbana, Central City, Mount Vernon and Springville school districts have all participated in the National Sticker Shock Campaign. The campaign works with local businesses to prevent underage drinking in Linn County. Each school district also participated in the National Red Ribbon Week Campaign. Red Ribbon Week is a weeklong event to bring attention to the destruction caused by alcohol and drug abuse. Continued on page 5

3 GRANT TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE(GRAA)- Linn Page 3 Leadership and Resiliency Program s Busy Fall The Leadership and Resiliency Programs were off to a great start with the beginning of fall. With the summer bringing some obstacles to overcome, the groups started with a clean slate this fall. New students, new facilitators, and new activities were in full bloom! Mt. Vernon: Mt. Vernon continued to have two LRP groups going at once. One group consists of students who have been in the program in the past, while the other group is filled with students who are new to the program. The Mt. Vernon groups also added three new facilitators into the mix after training in October. We re happy to welcome Mike Hayslip, Bethany Campbell- Tvedt, and Aaron Paterson and look forward to their fresh ideas and efforts that they ll bring to the groups! Mt. Vernon did several activities during the fall, both service and adventure. With the remembrance of 9/11 in September, the group sent several care packages to soldiers overseas. Each package contained personal care items and games, as well as letters from the students thanking the soldiers for their efforts. November brought conversations of goals and working hard to overcome obstacles that may get in your way. The groups trekked to Cedar Rapids to watch a showing of The Blind Side. After the movie the groups processed how even large obstacles can be overcome with hard with and determination. To wrap up the existing part of 2009, the Mt. Vernon LRP groups participated in the Salvation Army s Red Kettle Campaign. Each group picked a time to bell ring at Gary s Grocery Store in Mt. Vernon to help by Erin Gavin raise money for people in need this holiday season. It was very cold but the students toughed it out for a great cause! Springville: With Springville only losing two students to graduation last May, many of the remaining students returned for another year of LRP. The group added a small group of underclassmen to make one of the larger groups involved in the program provided by the grant. The Springville group also added another facilitator this fall. Matt Secl. Mr. Secl is a wonderful addition to our group of facilitators and we look forward to working more with him! Springville picked up right where they left off this summer with activities. Springville also created and sent care packages overseas to soldiers. Their care packages focused more on treats and entertainment for the soldiers. Boxes filled with snacks and games were filled and sent off with thoughts of helping the soldiers relax and have a bit of fun while gone. Springville also made their way to Camp Courageous this fall. The students endured a group initiative course that had them working together to get through obstacle such as a large spider web where students had to help each other get through and a communication activity where students were not allowed to speak to each other, but use other forms of communication instead. This course was great for the students to learn to trust each other in order to obtain common goals, which is a main element of the LRP program. The Springville students also braved the cold weather in December to bell ring for the Salvation Army in December. They were out there on one of the coldest nights but little, to no complaints were heard the entire time! Central City: With no students lost to graduation last year, the entire LRP group returned with a few additions. Central City also had a great summer with activities so starting again in the fall was a breeze for them. They also had a new addition to the facilitator group. Mrs. Kristina Merritt joined the group after the training in October. She was willing to jump right into helping out and with a facilitator on maternity leave, which was very much appreciated! CC LRP Students putting Care packages together for the soldiers Just like the other three groups, Central City had no probably getting into the swing of things with activities. In October, the group headed out with rakes in hand to take on the yards of a few elderly residents of Central City. The students enjoyed working together outside during the day and especially appreciated the treats given to them by one resident who appreciated their work! In October the group also headed to Camp Wapsi for a few hours of teambuilding activities. The group worked on things like working as a team to obtain a common goal, learning effective ways of communicating with team members and also participated in a trust walk where one person was blindfolded while their partner lead them through a trail around the camp. Activities like these really bring the group together and get them thinking as a team, instead of individuals. Finally, the group took some on a Saturday to get together and enjoyed a few hours at a bowling alley in Cedar Rapids. A trip like this can be looked at as just a fun activity, with little importance that the students get nothing out of. However, relaxing activities, such as this one, are just as important as the big Continued on next page

4 Continued LRP from page 3 Contacts Jennifer Husmann Project Coordinator x1007 cell Erin Gavin Prevention Specialist egavin@asac.us risky trips. The students get a chance to sit back and work on their relationships with each other. If this is not done every so often, the group dynamics begin to slide a way and that can take away from the primary purpose of the group. As we found out from the Chicago trip last spring, the groups really enjoy getting together, hanging out, and sharing stories of things their groups have done. Knowing that, we thought it would be a great idea to get together again this December before the holidays and have a party celebrating the first half of the school year. The group met at Springville High School in early December. They enjoyed a nice catered meal from Hy-Vee and spent the rest of the night catching up and enjoying each other s company. The groups involved in the Leadership and Resiliency Program have made huge strides since the beginning of the grant. It is always great to see the changes among the students and the obstacles in the lives of the students that are overcome due to a program that gives them a chance to be themselves and learn skills that will help them for a lifetime. Anthony Jensen Prevention Specialist ajensen@asac.us x1007 Cell Springville TADA students implementing Project Sticker Shock Stephanie Engledow Chemical & Addiction Dependency Counselor Cell sengledow@asac.us *Reminder if you are concerned about a student s substance use please contact Stephanie! Project Director Dr. Pam Ewell Superintendent MV Schools x1000 pewell@ mountvernon.k12.ia.us Central City Get a Grip Students also participating in Project Sticker Shock with Linn County Sheriff Deputy Rob Taylor.

5 Student Advocacy Groups continued from page 2 Central City High School Get a Grip has extended an invitation to all middle school students to join the group. It has been great for both age groups to work together on important issues. Mount Vernon High School Students for Positive Choices sold bracelets to elementary students during Red Ribbon Week. They will host a table to recruit visiting 8th graders during orientation this spring. Mount Vernon Middle School Teens Against Drugs and Alcohol gave buttons to every Mount Vernon middle school and elementary student and teacher. The buttons say "Don't monkey with drugs." Springville Middle School will be starting a new advocacy group for the middle school. There is a lot of work to be done before the end of the school year. Each group will be designing awareness campaigns for the Super Bowl, St. Patrick's Day and Prom. Each group will be attending the Take Charge Conference on February 16th. The Take Charge Conference is designed to provide training to area high school students to empower them to be positive role models, provide peer education, and be advocates in their community to make positive social changes. Each group will also be attending the Youth Speak Out on Substance Abuse Day on the Hill on February 22nd. This will be a great opportunity for students to talk to legislators about substance abuse issues and learn about the legislative process. If your student is interested in getting involved or learning more about any of these groups, contact Anthony Jensen at ajensen@asac.us. Student Advocacy groups in Mount Vernon attaching stickers on beer before the holidays reminding adults not to provide to minors. A Message from our Youth Substance Abuse Counselor Hi, I am Stephanie Engledow. I am a substance abuse counselor at the Area Substance Abuse Council. I am currently working in four school districts on this alcohol reduction grant, including Springville, Central City, Mount Vernon, and Center Point Urbana. What I do in the schools include: substance abuse evaluation/assessments for students who may be struggling with these issues, students who have legal charges as a result of alcohol or drugs, students who have violated the school s good conduct policy, and students who others are just concerned about due to changes in behaviors, mood, or attitude. I also provide outpatient substance abuse treatment services for students who meet the criteria for outpatient services. If a student is recommended for a higher level of care than I can provide in the schools, I make referrals and get them into a treatment program that best fits their needs, whether it be Level II.1 Intensive Outpatient, or Level III.5 Primary Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Services. Once a person completes the higher levels of care, I will continue to work with them when they return home and to school again. I also facilitate youth family group programs at ASAC s Main Campus in Cedar Rapids. Any student and family that I am working with in the school district who is admitted to a substance abuse treatment program at ASAC is able to attend these groups. I have spoken in classes regarding drugs and alcohol and the different types of treatment that is provided at ASAC. I also talk to students who may be having some changes in behavior, attitude, and mood, but are not currently using substances and help them identify resources, help them work through family substance abuse issues, and help refer them to other community resources that can assist them in making better decisions and moving forward to their future. I am schools on the following days: Mount Vernon Mondays, Springville Tuesdays, Center Point Urbana Wednesdays, and Central City Thursdays. On Fridays I am at ASAC in Cedar Rapids doing evaluations/ assessments and seeing clients there. So, if you know someone or you are someone who may benefit from speaking with me, stop by and say hello.