Raising community awareness about youth substance abuse

Basketball fans, this Saturday, Jan. 25, will be a good time to go see Ten Sleep’s new gym when the Pioneers host home varsity games vs. Meeteetse — at 6:30 p.m. Cheering on the Pioneers at these games is a special occasion though; you’ll be supporting the players on the court, and the decisions they and their peers make outside the school, too, at Ten Sleep’s annual Prevention Night.

Worland will follow by hosting their Prevention Night at home basketball games vs. Powell on Friday, Feb. 14 — girls play at 5:30 p.m. and boys play at 7 p.m. Both games have a ‘white-out’ theme, so wear white or grab a Prevention Night T-shirt at the door to show support for a drug-free community.

Washakie County Prevention Coalition representatives Sheri Gunderson, Community Prevention Specialist Lila Jolley and Youth Diversion Program Director Kassie Nolting recently discussed Prevention Night and how the Washakie Prevention Coalition works to combat the issue of youth substance abuse.

WHAT IS PREVENTION NIGHT?

Gunderson explained the origin of the event, saying, “We as a coalition had been looking at the fact that we ask a lot of kids; we’re always saying, ‘Don't do drugs, make good choices.’ We put a lot of focus on that, and it’s a lot of pressure. We were thinking, well, what's a way that as a community, we can make a big show of support for the students; to show it's not just us constantly asking this, but that the community is behind you doing the right thing as well?”

She continued, “Here in Worland, there's no better way to get the whole community rallied than at a ball game. Our first year we tried it out at a basketball game, and it’s just stuck … The idea has always been that we want kids to be involved throughout the school district, supporting the idea of them being substance-free, but we also want the community to come out and say, ‘We're with you.’ Most kids in our district are making the decision to avoid substances pretty much daily, and I think they deserve recognition for that.”

PREVENTION COALITION

The Washakie Prevention Coalition is a grant-funded organization that has its main objective in the name; to prevent youth in the community from using mind-altering substances. Gunderson said, “In terms of substance use with youth, we're able to do more with the dollars that we have if we can get ahead of students starting to use. It’s a lot harder to come in after they've started using, because it can quickly get to the point where there's addiction.

“We want to try to get ahead of these issues for our students, and figure out how to strengthen them in all of the factors that can affect whether they began to use: whether that's working with families, their mental health, or getting them involved in healthy ways in the community."

Regarding educating the youth, Jolley said, “When we start talking to kids in the elementary schools, we’ve begun to focus on the main issue that’s true for all substances: these kids’ brains are still developing, and they need to be careful about what they put into their bodies. If they use a mind-altering substance when they’re young, they greatly increase the risk that they’ll struggle with substance abuse later in life.”

She added, “We always tell them that their brain is the only thing that cannot be replaced; all the other organs can be, but you get one brain and that's it. They respond well to that.”

Gunderson also spoke about the organization’s activism regarding hard drugs, saying, “We do have people who want us to talk about, fentanyl or meth more, but when we look at the data that's not necessarily what kids are using. We choose to focus on the three issues that are really the highest prevalence rates among our youth, and those are alcohol, marijuana and nicotine.”

She said that the Coalition primarily focuses on education regarding these three substances because they are typically the substances youth begin to abuse but acknowledged that their use can often lead to kids trying other drugs. Another focus of the Coalition is educating community members about what substances law enforcement is noticing in the community.

DATA, AND WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Data that supports the Coalition’s efforts to combat alcohol, marijuana and nicotine comes from results of Wyoming Prevention Needs Assessment surveys taken by Washakie County students, with the most recent results coming from 2022. The surveys ask students what substances they have used within the last 30 days, and showed that 27% had used nicotine by vaping, 20% used alcohol and 10% had used marijuana. Other substances all were reported at lower prevalence.

Gunderson added, “PNA makes their data as accurate as possible; we can't ever promise that we have perfect data, but this is just about as good as we're going to get.”

Nolting, having experience working with kids in the Youth Alternative Program, spoke about what trends she is currently seeing. She said, “The way that they get started is from their parents or from a friend. We've had kids who will steal vapes from parents and then hand them out at the schools, or we have cases where the parents let them try theirs. I would definitely say nicotine vaping is very high on my radar right now, but so is THC [marijuana] now. The kids are able to vape it through a device, and the parents don't know whether it's a nicotine vape or THC. Many kids report going to Billings, and having someone buy it for them and they bring it back.”

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

To get involved with Washakie Prevention Coalition, you can attend their regular noon meetings every third Thursday of the month at the meeting room in the Community Center. Evening meetings are held at the same place every fourth Tuesday at 6 p.m.

You can call the Coalition at 307-347-9025 or go to WashakiePreventionCoalition.org for more information.

Gunderson added, “Something that every parent can do right now to help is just having a good, supportive relationship with your kids; let them know that you're there for them, that you support them, that you care about what they're going through. Be a better listener than a

talker.”