Communities That Care

Posted on July 31, 2009

Five Town CTC Efforts Featured During Panel at National Event

Executive Director Dalene Dutton and STAR Program Coordinator Vicki Hamlin were among the more than 1300 anti-drug coalition leaders in Louisville, KY for the CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) Mid-Year Training Camp, where attendees networked with their peers, heard from experts in the substance abuse prevention field and learned new strategies to help them tackle their local drug abuse problems.

CADCA’s Mid-Year Training Camp is an intensive four-day training designed specifically for community coalition professionals. This year’s Mid-Year Training, entitled "Major League Coalitions," featured in-depth courses on everything from coalition fundamentals and evaluation to underage drinking policies and social marketing strategies.

Participants came from all over the country and world, including nearly all 50 states, several U.S. territories, and 10 countries, providing a unique networking opportunity. Among the participants were large contingents from the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard, and more than 200 youth who took part in CADCA’s National Youth Leadership Initiative.
 
In addition to hearing from experts in the substance abuse prevention and treatment fields, and participating in four days of workshops, Dutton and Hamlin also took part in a number of unique activities including a town hall event specifically for Drug-Free Communities program grantees. They also presented the work of the Five Town Communities That Care Coalition to a panel of prevention experts who provided feedback and suggestions.
 
"There was a great deal of interest in the efforts of Five Town Communities That Care," said Dutton. "Our community’s scientific approach is delivering results that others want to duplicate.  Our thanks go out to everyone who has supported our efforts – they are really paying off and people across the country are very interested in learning more about what we are doing."

Kicking off the Mid-Year was keynote speaker Fran Harding, Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who urged coalitions to try to include substance abuse in any healthcare reform initiative.

"When we’re working to reduce substance abuse, we are working with the same indicators of risk as those for heart disease, diabetes and obesity," Harding said. "Knock on the doors of the healthcare reform conversation and say ‘I need to be a part of this conversation because I have a part in the solution.’"

Harding said most people don’t understand how substance abuse and addiction is connected to chronic disease, or of the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention. Coalitions, she said, can help educate the public. "In the work that you do, our biggest problem is that the success that you bring to the table everyday is not known or believed by the rest of the people in the country. Let SAMHSA help you to begin to share that success and show people how connected your work is to chronic disease," Harding noted.

For more information about Five Town Communities That Care, contact Dalene Dutton at 207-236-9800 or dalene@fivetownctc.org. For more information about CADCA, visit www.cadca.org.

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