Meet Worland's new prevention management specialist

WORLAND – The Prevention Management Organization of Wyoming has hired Lila Jolley as the Washakie County Prevention Management Specialist, replacing Mary Buchanan who retired in July.

Jolley brings to the table a bachelor's degree in sociology and 10 years of experience, having worked at the Northwest Wyoming Treatment Center in Powell as a case manager for young people with addictions. Community Prevention Director Organization Charlotte Carlton said in an earlier interview that Jolley "brings a wealth of experience regarding addiction and the evidence based approaches to prevent it."

The experience of working with young people with addictions, Jolley said will help her educate parents on the signs of addiction before there is a full blown problem and also help parents talk with their children about the importance of not smoking, drinking alcohol or using drugs.

Jolley said it's important for parents to talk to their children about not smoking and drinking, even though there are so many things that are worse out there. Addiction really can start with a cigarette or a drink of beer, it starts with these simple little things. Talking with your children will help them understand that a person can't make good choices when they are under the influence of alcohol and that being under the influence may lead to, maybe drinking and driving or trying drugs for the first time, something that they wouldn't normally do. Addiction is preventable and talking with their children will not lead to them using.

"It might be a hard conversation at first, but it does lead to a better relationship. Addiction is not uncommon and it is okay to talk about it," she added.

Jolley's goal is to inform the community about good communication and the dangers of addiction. "My goal is to try and help educate community members and families about the risks and harms that there are, and that they are preventable. People who struggle with addiction they are not bad people, it's a struggle that a lot of people have and it's also preventable and if we can educate families than hopefully we won't need treatment centers anymore and kids won't have to struggle so much. So my goal is to educate, mainly parents, on helping them to recognize signs of if their child is using, how to have conversations with their kids about drugs and educate them more so that they can educate their children. It really comes down to helping families be able to communicate better, so that we can all become healthier," Jolley stated.

Washakie County schools do a great job of educating their students on making good choices and Jolley is looking forward to working with them. "I've talked to almost all of the guidance counselors at the schools. I haven't had a chance to talk to all the therapists. Mary (Buchanan) did a lot with tobacco prevention and she went into the schools and would talk to the kids and I plan on continuing that," Jolley said.

Since moving here from Powell in October, Jolley has found the community to be very supportive.

"I've really been impressed with the community here, because in the training that we did, when I first started, it was all about community capacity, building capacity and talking about resistance, not in Wyoming but as a whole. I've met with nothing but support and people are willing to help and they are concerned about different issues. I think that that has a lot to do with Mary Buchanan who was in my position before. She's done some amazing work," Jolley stated.

Jolley has a lot of support behind her. "I have a really great coalition and what we want to do is just educate families and kids. That is the primary focus of the conversation that I have had with the whole coalition, is to help decrease risk factors and increase protective factors for our youth so that they can more easily make good choices and have other things to do instead of going to a party or something like that," Jolley said.

Jolley gives a little perspective on how children become addicted stating that a lot of times it's just sensation seeking; they are young and want to try new things and sometimes that makes them feel better, so they continue to use to feel better. If the depression, anxiety or whatever it is, is addressed then they won't need to use anymore.

There is a reason that a lot of kids use, they can be really sad or anxious and they don't know how to talk about it or identify it, she said.