The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board's Wellness, Health Promotion & Prevention team invites you join us in a week of awareness raising activities during SAMHSA's National Prevention Week. National Prevention week is a week to speak out, stand up, and take action to raise awareness about substance use prevention and to promote positive mental health. The annual observation is to increase public awareness around important issues that impact children, youth, families, and communities. According to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, youth are most likely to start using substances for the first time in the summer months of June and July. Thus, National Prevention Week is always held the third week in May before youth are most at risk for first time use. #PreventionHappensHere

Make each day count. Join us during National Prevention Week and every week to prevent substance misuse and promote mental wellness. Contact us with your ideas and to partner throughout the year.

Each day of National Prevention Week has its own theme...

Monday, May 11

Preventing prescription drug and opioid misuse

• Be prepared to respond to an overdose: Overdoses can happen in unexpected situations – a social gathering, a school event, with a friend or family, or other community event. You may not know that someone is at risk of overdose: stigma prevents many who use drugs from telling others. Take a REVIVE! virtual online training and learn what to do in an opioid overdose emergency. Sign up to attend a FREE online training on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 3 p.m. or find out about other REVIVE! training dates coming up.
• Prevent medication misuse: Do you have expired medications or medications that you no longer need? The Health Department offers tips on how to safely dispose of medications as well as information on year-round drug disposal collection sites. Also, through May 16, households across the U.S. can request a large Deterra Medication Disposal Pouch to be sent directly to their home, free of charge.
• Be informed about opioid misuse: Opioid misuse claims more lives per year than motor vehicle accidents. Opioid use becomes a problem when someone takes more than the prescribed dose, has tried but failed to cut down or stop, had friends or loved ones express concern about their opioid use, or had health, social, legal or financial problems as a result of opioid use. Help is available.

Tuesday, May 12

Preventing underage drinking and alcohol use

• Download the "Talk. They Hear You" app: Download the free "Talk. They Hear You." app that features an interactive simulation to help you learn the do's and don'ts of talking to kids about underage drinking. Use the avatars to practice bringing up the topic of alcohol, learn the questions to ask and get ideas for keeping the conversation going. Learn more about "Talk. They Hear You."
• Learn why you should talk with your children about drinking: Parents have a significant influence in their children’s decisions to experiment with alcohol and other drugs. Check out this video about the importance to having conversations with your children – also available in Spanish.
• Learn the FIVE conversation goals: Are you a parent of a 9 to 15 year old? Learn how to talk with your child about alcohol and other drugs with the FIVE conversation goals.

Wednesday, May 13

Preventing illicit drug use and youth marijuana use

• Participate in the Fairfax Prevention Coalition meeting: The Fairfax Prevention Coalition, an anti-drug partnership led by CSB to create and coordinate strategies that encourage a drug-free community, will hold its next meeting virtually on Wednesday, May 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. Contact Lori Naveda, Fairfax Prevention Coalition Coordinator, if you are interested in attending.
• Help target drug prevention efforts: In an effort to better plan our opioid and other drug prevention efforts, CSB is seeking opinions of young adults between the ages of 18-25. The survey is anonymous and voluntary, and asks opinions about the use of alcohol, prescription drugs and heroin. Find out more about the survey. Survey participants can also enter a drawing for a $200 gift card. Please help by sharing the survey link with young adults in your community: www.surveymonkey.com/r/YoungAdult2020.
• Educate yourself and teens on the effects of drugs: Check out SAMHSA’s Tips for Teens series for facts on a variety of drugs and dispel common myths.

Thursday, May 14

Preventing youth tobacco use (e-cigarettes and vaping)

• Know that most kids don't vape: According to the Fairfax County Youth Survey, 1 in 5 youth have vaped in the past thirty days. Learn about what our local teens say they're experiencing.
• Get smart about the dangers of vaping: E-cigarettes and vape pens with nicotine can mess with your brain, and children's brains are still developing until they are at least 25. Download the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids' Vaping Guide: What you need to know and how to talk with your kids about vaping.
• Help a young person quit vaping: Quitting vaping is hard, but help is a text away! Join the 100,000+ people using This is Quitting, a text messaging program to quit vaping that will help them get through the stress, cravings and slipups. Teens and young adults can text DITCHJUUL to 88709 to sign up.

Friday, May 15

Preventing suicide

• Take an online suicide prevention training: Be ready to help address mental health concerns in the young people in your life! The CSB offers Kognito's research-based lessons for adults who work with children and young people. This suite of ten free, online role-play courses teach how to recognize when a young person is showing signs of distress, how to talk with them, and how to connect them with support. Take a class now.
• Lock up firearms and medication: On average, there are 129 suicides per day. CSB's Wellness, Health Promotion & Prevention team has implemented the Lock &Talk Program to address the most common means of suicide – access to firearms and medication. If you or a loved one is in need of a lock box for medications or a firearm safety lock, contact us.

CSB's Wellness, Health Promotion & Prevention team provides a variety of programming year-round, including new virtual REVIVE! opioid overdose reversal training, Mental Health First Aid, Building Resilient Communities and Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences training and Al's Pals — learn about all of our Prevention programming.