Substance Use Prevention Month: Telling the Prevention Story

In October, SAMHSA celebrates Substance Use Prevention Month — an opportunity for the prevention field and prevention partners to highlight the importance and impact of prevention. And given the substance use and overdose challenges facing our country, prevention has never been more important. This month, each of us can inspire action by sharing how prevention is improving lives in communities across our nation.

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Overdose Prevention Strategy, along with SAMHSA’s Strategic Plan, our prevention efforts aim to prevent substance use in the first place, prevent the progression of substance use to a substance use disorder, and prevent and reduce harms associated with use. Our grantees across the country are doing just that every day. Here are just a few quick stories of our grantees in action.

Pueblo of Zuni – Zuni Tribal Prevention Project
Zuni, New Mexico
(Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success grant awardee, FY 2020)

In 2021, Pueblo of Zuni (Zuni Tribal Prevention Project) developed a Family Wellness Kit program to strengthen family communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Family bonding, parent-child communication, and cultural identity (PDF | 818 KB) are protective factors against substance use and other youth risk behaviors.

The kits included culturally relevant family cohesion activities, and a new type of kit was distributed monthly (over 18 months) with:

• Four activities (one for siblings; one for grandparents; one for the entire family; and one for siblings, grandparents, or family).
• One activity guide with instructions.
• Activity supplies.
• One debrief guide with discussion prompts.
• One parent/caregiver skill development guide on active listening, validation, effective communication, family engagement, positive discipline, and setting boundaries.

Staff follow-up every three months to check-in with the families: 72 activities had been developed, and 85 percent of 102 registered families completed the program. Families appreciated the integration of Zuni culture in the kits and enjoyed completing the activities together. They also reported spending more quality time together, growing closer, and communicating more.

A participant described the benefit as, “…being together as a family and just having more conversations; we even show more affection, like giving hugs and saying, ‘I love you.’” Families also said that they continued using the activities and created more family routines such as family nights and putting away cell phones during family times like dinner.

Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Prevention and Health Promotion Division – Know Ur Vape
(Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant recipient)

In 2022, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) Prevention and Health Promotion Division partnered with Connecticut Clearinghouse and Connecticut’s Tobacco Enforcement division to develop a vaping prevention campaign.

Launched in 2023, Know Ur Vape leverages the power of social media influencers and the social media trend of “unboxing” videos to reach youth and young adults. The campaign seeks to prevent vaping initiation among teens and young adults and encourage quitting among those who vape.

Each video starts out in a familiar way, then features a surprising plot twist, and concludes with a health message and a resource. Each influencer receives one of three themed boxes: sports, beauty, or mystery. As they open the box and interact with the contents, their reactions indicate excitement, confusion, concern, and then displeasure. The videos demonstrate the negative effects of vaping, including its addictive and disruptive nature, impairment to athletic performance, and harmful effects on skin and physical appearance.

Influencers include University of Connecticut athletes. As part of the campaign, television personality Nia Moore sat down with Megan Albanese of Southington STEPS coalition on Instagram Live to discuss her negative experiences with vaping.

In the campaign’s first three months, the videos were viewed 177,656 times on social media, with 18,905 likes and 776 comments. On TikTok, the videos received 113,904 views and on Instagram, one post received 24,600 views. The campaign was featured on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Just Think Twice website and the CADCA website.

West Virginia Departments of Health and Human Services – Overdose Prevention and Response
(First Responders – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act grant awardee, FY 2022)

The Police and Peers Initiative in the Fayette, Kanawha, Monongalia, Nicholas, and Preston counties of West Virginia places Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS) with law enforcement to enhance care for people in crisis. The initiative established partnerships with local Quick Response Teams, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion teams, and others in the community.

PRSS provide opioid reversal, case management, and motivational interviewing services; linkage to addiction treatment, social services, support programs; and customized action plans based on the individual’s self-identified needs. This enhances quality of care and services and reduces the burden on law enforcement officers (who can then focus on public safety).

Since 2022, the program has linked 120 people to treatment and 110 to psychosocial support services (housing, clothing, basic needs, employment, etc.) as well as distributed 262 naloxone kits and 780 fentanyl test strips.

Early in the initiative, a Fayette County Sheriff’s Deputy contacted a PRSS about an overdose incident. The PRSS met with the individual, who chose to enroll in an outpatient Medication for Opioid Use Disorder program. This person has now sustained over eight months of recovery, gained employment, reinstated their driver’s license, and bought a vehicle.

During an Oak Hill Police Department callout, a PRSS de-escalated a disturbance. The peer connected three people to treatment — all of whom completed treatment — and one person was reunited with their children while maintaining recovery.

With the Kingwood Police Department (starting in April 2024), PRSS activities include collaborating with the municipal court, training the fire department on naloxone administration, participating in ride-alongs, attending coalition meetings, and developing a street outreach plan.

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation – Walking in 2 Worlds
Mayetta, Kansas
(Tribal Behavioral Health grant awardee)

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation hosted a two-day workshop to help human services professionals support the Native Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (2SLGBTQ) population. The “Walking in 2 Worlds” event educated professionals and community members about the struggles and complexities of 2SLGBTQ adults and youth across Indian Country.

Issues for these individuals include isolation; homelessness; job insecurity; racism; stigma; and increased risks of substance use, substance use disorders, overdose, violence, suicide, and human trafficking victimization. Many cases of violence and human trafficking go unreported, due to multiple (and intersecting) barriers faced by this population, and a lack of supportive services tailored to address their unique needs.

The workshop benefitted from speakers who shared personal stories, documentary films, and technical assistance from SAMHSA’s Native Connections training and technical assistance.

Prevention has never been more important. As a nation, we continue to face significant substance use and mental health challenges, especially among youth and young adults. Prevention works and helps us get ahead of these challenges so that youth, families, and communities can thrive.

Prevention Month is a key opportunity to elevate the national conversation and showcase prevention’s positive effects on communities across the country. Here are ideas and resources for you to tell your prevention story.

To Tell Your Story During Prevention Month:

• Download the Substance Use Prevention Month toolkit — which includes social media messages, graphics, email signature graphic, virtual meeting background, and resources.
• Share your #MyPreventionStory on social media.

To Get Involved Year-round:

To Put Prevention Science into Practice:

In determining which grantees to highlight for this blog, SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention staff (including government project officers) looked across CSAP’s prevention portfolio to identify grantees that represent the scope of our prevention portfolio and would reflect: diversity in population served or population of focus (e.g., age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social context of family or individual), geographic diversity of the programs (e.g., rural, urban, and regions), outcome of focus (e.g., upstream prevention or preventing a downstream outcome such as overdose), and diversity in prevention strategies implemented (e.g. social media and public messaging, naloxone distribution and training, individual programs, family programs).