January - 2019 Newsletter

Our Mission
The mission of CLOSE Community is to collaboratively initiate, coordinate, and sustain prevention and intervention efforts that reduce and address youth substance use and the impact of substance use disorders within the Town of Longmeadow.

Visit our website!

Data Entry Pizza Party: WE WANT YOU!

Join CLOSE Community at LPS’ Central Office and volunteer to help us enter our paper copies of this year’s annual Community Survey!

When: Thursday, January 17th, 5:30-7:30pm
Where: LPS Offices, 535 Bliss Rd.
RSVP! info@CLOSEcommunity.org or
Call/Text: 413-318-4773.

CLOSE and Storrs Library team up!

To celebrate “National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week®” (NDAFW), Storrs Library will feature 20+ titles in their CLOSE Community Library Display, featuring non-fiction stories on substance prevention, intervention, and treatment. Titles include Beautiful Boy by David Scheff and Unbroken Brain by Maia Szalavitz—to name a few.

When: Mon-Sun, Jan 21-27

Last chance to complete our survey!!

CLOSE website features Vaping Prevention Page!

Check out our website for educational resources for parents, teens, business owners, and community members. Vaping Prevention information has been heavily requested and we heard you loud and clear!

To learn more visit our new page…

Our first Hampden-County Vaping Mini-Conference!

We are SOLD OUT! Over 100 Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals, SROs, Guidance Counselors, Health and Wellness Teachers, Community Coalitions Members, and School Nurses from every school district in Hampden County will learn about new products and technology, vaping trends, real health risks, industry tactics, and steps that schools can take to address and prevent vaping among students. Coordinated by the Western Massachusetts School Substance Abuse Counselors Association (WMSSACA).

A little education on our approach to prevention…

Building Capacity

Step 2 of the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) helps prevention professionals identify resources and build readiness to address substance use and misuse.

This work includes building and mobilizing local resources and readiness to address identified prevention needs. A community needs both human and structural resources to establish and maintain a prevention system that can respond effectively to local problems. It also needs people who have the motivation and willingness—that is, the readiness—to commit local resources to address identified prevention needs.

Why? Because prevention programs and interventions that are well-supported with adequate resources and readiness are more likely to succeed!

The following are some strategies for building capacity:

Meet one‐on‐one with public opinion leaders
Ask stakeholders to share information in their own sectors
Submit articles to local media, church bulletins, club newsletters, etc.
Share information on relevant websites and social media outlets
Host community events to share information about/discuss the problem
Convene focus groups to get input on prevention plans

View our Blog!

What we’ve been up to…

Shelly Warren MSW, LICSW (CLOSE Community Board President and the Substance Abuse Response Coordinator with Longmeadow Public Schools) recently presented on Parenting: Post-Marijuana Legalization at Longmeadow High School. To view her presentation, visit our website at CLOSEcommunity.org.

CLOSE has been presenting to sports team captains this winter on the effects of substance use on athletic performance and the benefits of committing to a season above the influence of alcohol, marijuana, vaping, and other drugs. To take a look at the content, visit our website HERE.

Our final LHS Social Norms Campaign poster that went up in December. Most LHS 11th/12th grade do NOT drive under the influence of alcohol or marijuana. When more students know the reality of these peer behaviors, they are less likely to engage in these unhealthy behaviors to begin with. To learn more about social norms campaigns, visit the Montana Institute’s website.

Take Action! & Opioid Prevention Subcommittee Meeting – Thursday, January 17th, 4pm, LPS Central Office, 535 Bliss Road in Room A31
Description: The Take Action & Opioid Prevention Subcommittee serves the purpose of examining and presenting findings on how best to measure and reduce impacts on public health:

How to decrease access to prescription pills
How to increase access to Narcan
How to end the stigma of addiction
How to effectively implement evidence-based education and prevention strategies
How to increase access to and connect with community members who have managed the treatment/recovery system for an individual struggling with substance use disorder
Outreach/Communications Subcommittee Meeting – Friday, January 25th, 10am, LPS Central Office, 535 Bliss Road in Room A31
Description: The Outreach and Communications Subcommittee’s role is to ensure the coalition builds strong and strategic relationships with stakeholders through the integration of the coalitions’s education, events, and prevention activities. It achieves this by:
- Working with committee members to develop a community relations plan that identifies formal and informal mechanisms to dialogue with the community
- Evaluating stakeholder relationships
- Developing criteria to identify and select collaborative partners
- Working with members to draft communications campaigns to share with community members and elected officials
- Serving as a conduit for communicating with various media outlets
- Promoting the coalition’s services to the community
- Working with members to develop key messages articulated to stakeholders
Assessment and Evaluation Subcommittee Meeting – January Meeting, TBD, LPS Central Office, 535 Bliss Road in Room A31
Description: This subcommittee assists in the coordination of community-level assessment and oversees the school climate survey and community survey. This subcommittee maintains and implements the evaluation of coalitions strategies and interventions, monitoring and supporting assessment activities before and after community-wide events.
Full Coalition Meeting – ALL WELCOME! Monday, March 11th, 7pm, LCTV Recording Live in A15, 535 Bliss Rd, TUNE IN! Channels 12 & 809.
Longmeadow Employers Listening Session over Dinner! – Tuesday, March 12th, 4:30pm, Location: St. Mary’s Parrish Center, 519 Longmeadow Street. ALL LONGMEADOW EMPLOYERS WELCOME!

Visit our website!

Our mailing address is:
535 Bliss Road, Longmeadow Public Schools, Pupil Services, Room A29, Longmeadow, MA 01106
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

This email was sent to *|EMAIL|*why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences

*|LIST:ADDRESSLINE|*

*|REWARDS|*