The Pasadena Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (PCADD), a program of Social Model Recovery Systems (SMRS), offers adult and adolescent treatment for alcohol and other drug problems. In addition, SMRS offers education, training, and consulting services for alcohol and other drug recovery treatment programs. PCADD Programs Outpatient ProgramThe treatment program is designed to meet the needs of people suffering from alcoholism and drug dependence. Included are assessment and evaluation; treatment planning and access to other resources; supervised implementation of the plan; monitored 12-step meeting attendance; education on addiction topics and issues; facilitated recovery support groups, and weekly individual counseling and case management. The Aftercare program provides on-going recovery and treatment support for up to a year after completion of the program. Available to adolescents as well as adults, families are also considered and included in the recovery process offered by this program. Information and ReferralEvery month PCADD handles hundreds of...

In 2008, in collaboration with DREAM, Inc., the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence of Central Mississippi (NCADD) formed the Mississippi Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition of Madison and Rankin Counties (MUDPC) and was selected by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse to implement the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. DREAM, Inc. was a nonprofit organization that worked to prevent youth substance abuse and promote healthy life styles through developing and providing effective products and services for schools, communities and businesses. It recently closed its operation, but NCADD continues to operate the Coalition. Although the Strategic Prevention Framework Incentive no longer provides funding, NCADD has continued MUDPC ‘s mission and vision by collaborating with the Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition of Madison, Yazoo and Holmes Counties and with the Partnership for a Healthy MS. The two coalitions bring awareness about the devastating effects of alcohol...

  Recently, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced distribution of $25 million in federal funding to address the opioid crisis in New York State. The Chautauqua Alcohol & Substance Abuse Council (CASAC) in Jamestown, NY was one of the award recipients and will receive $100,000 to provide evidence-based prevention programs to underserved, hard-to-reach youth, and other at-risk populations in the City of Dunkirk. CASAC has established a collaboration with the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County and the Salvation Army’s After School Programs. Youth and adults will have the opportunity to engage in the “Too Good” evidence-based after school program. This program focuses on prevention education through social and emotional learning, empowering youth and teens with skills needed for academic, social and life successes. Elementary and middle school students will engage in positive, engaging, age-appropriate activities including games, stories and songs. The program reinforces basic prevention concepts, including...

We all remember public anti-drug programs like D.A.R.E or “Just Say No”. Well, research shows that programs like these were largely ineffective and did little to curb drug use by children deemed to be at highest risk. A recent article in the New York Times pointed to a new anti-drug program being tested around the world. And the program, called Preventure, “recognizes how a child’s temperament drives his or her risk for drug use — and that different traits create different pathways to addiction,” according to the article. Preventure’s personality testing programs focus on four risky traits: sensation-seeking, impulsiveness, anxiety sensitivity and hopelessness. The program recognizes how a child’s temperament drives his or her risk for drug use — and that different traits create different pathways to addiction. According to the article, early trials show that personality testing can identify 90 percent of the highest risk children, targeting risky traits before...

Student Assistance Services Corp, an NCADD Affiliate located in Tarrytown NY, and servicing all of Westchester County, implements the ROADD (Reduce Our Adolescent Drinking/Drugging and Driving) Program. ROADD is an educational program aimed at preventing alcohol and other drug impaired driving among high school students. It is funded by the Westchester County Office of Drug Prevention and STOP-DWI, which in turn receives monies from the fines paid by convicted drunk drivers. The ROADD Program is free to participating public, private, and parochial schools in Westchester County. It is provided for two years at a school and then is offered to other schools on a rotating basis. Students receive six class sessions conducted by a ROADD Health Educator. The classes consist primarily of sophomores and juniors, and are usually delivered through the school's health class, or another appropriate subject. Class sessions are designed to be student centered and skills based, incorporating techniques...

Two new studies suggest parents can play an important role in preventing teens from drinking, NPR reports. One study in the journal Prevention Science finds parents who set effective and strict alcohol-related rules, while maintaining a warm and supportive family environment, reduce the risk of binge drinking in their teens. In the second study in the same journal, children who participated in a five-month, home-based alcohol prevention program while they were in third grade were significantly less likely to drink when they were in seventh grade, compared with children who were not in the program. In the first study, researchers at Claremont Graduate University looked at data from a long-term study that followed more than 9,400 teens from 1994-1995 through 2008, when participants were in their 20s or early 30s. The teens’ parents were interviewed in the first year of the study. The researchers found teens were more likely to binge...

The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD) offers a Student Assistance Program (SAP) which is a comprehensive agency-school based collaborative effort designed to educate students about the current drug crisis and teach new and healthier coping skills in order to support successful learning and development. The program has two goals: To combat the public health crisis of substance use among young people on Long Island. LICADD provides unique and specialized education and support services that empower students, parents, faculty and professionals to combat the public health crisis of substance use, specifically among young people on Long Island.To promote wellness and teach healthy coping skills. The LICADD SAP works to promote wellness by teaching stress management, healthy coping skills, mindfulness, decision-making skills through collaborative education, prevention and intervention services. The program provides psychoeducation, prevention, early identification, family intervention, referrals and support groups for students impacted by the devastating problem...

A new survey finds medical students have double the rate of alcohol abuse or dependence, compared with surgeons, U.S. physicians or the general public, HealthDay reports. The researchers cite burnout and school debts as possible factors. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic contacted 12,500 medical students. Of the one-third who responded, approximately 1,400 said they experienced clinical alcohol abuse or dependence. That translates to about one-third of respondents, compared with 16 percent of peers who are not medical school students. The findings appear in the journal Academic Medicine. “Our findings clearly show there is reason for concern,” study senior author Dr. Liselotte Dyrbye said in a news release. “We recommend institutions pursue a multifaceted solution to address related issues with burnout, the cost of medical education and alcohol abuse.” The study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between being a medical school student and an increased risk of alcohol problems, the article...

NIH releases summary of research on early childhood risk and protective factors An online guide about interventions in early childhood that can help prevent drug use and other unhealthy behaviors was launched by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The guide offers research-based principles that affect a child’s self-control and overall mental health, starting during pregnancy through the eighth year of life. It recognizes that while substance use generally begins during the teen years, it has known biological, psychological, social, and environmental roots that begin even before birth. “Thanks to more than three decades of research into what makes a young child able to cope with life’s inevitable stresses, we now have unique opportunities to intervene very early in life to prevent substance use disorders,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “We now know that early intervention can set the stage for...

A new online tool introduced this school year is helping colleges compare and choose interventions to address harmful and underage student drinking. CollegeAIM—the College Alcohol Intervention Matrix—helps administrators find programs that are effective and fit into their budget, says Jason Kilmer, PhD of the University of Washington, who helped to develop the resource. CollegeAIM is the product of a multi-year collaboration with 16 college alcohol researchers with a range of expertise who developed and reviewed decades of scientific literature, and presents comprehensive and complicated information in a quick and convenient way through two accessible and easy-to-use matrices. It is also available in print form. Dr. Kilmer spoke about CollegeAIM, developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), at the recent Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) 26th National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. The need for a tool to help colleges combat college drinking is clear. According to...