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Isabel
Burk, National Expert on Inhalant Prevention, reviews the value
of the New England Coalition's approach.
Florence
Seidell, former Project Coordinator, NE Inhalant Coalition, explains how the New England Coalition impacted the RADAR
libraries.
Judith
Fellows, Substance Abuse Prevention Consultant from Vermont, tells how Vermont substance abuse consultants have adapted
regional presentations to meet local needs.
Melissa
Heinen, New Hampshire Educator with the Northern New England Poison
Center, discusses the value of regional trainings.
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| Key
Activities
| Challenges | What
We Learned
Supporting
Regional Efforts: Key Activities
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“One
of the things we tried to do is to figure out what can we
do that can persist beyond the life of the grant, what can
endure.”
- Howard Wolfe, Project Director
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As
staff of the New England Inhalant Abuse Prevention Coalition, we:
Provided
training and technical assistance
- We
asked each state to send a cadre of hand-picked participants to
a full day training of trainers. Follow-up showed that participants
conducted presentations, informed school or government policies
around inhalants, planned prevention programs, and disseminated
materials and information.
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We put in place a process to provide technical assistance on an
as-needed basis and bring resources to and share information at
task force meetings.
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In Year One, we held an Inhalant Summit by invitation only with
presentations by national experts on community-based and school-based
approaches to inhalant abuse prevention.
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In Year Two, we held a two day Inhalant Retreat, a planning and
networking event intended to move the states toward sustainability
beyond the life of our three-year grant.
Impacted
distribution systems
- We
conducted a regional training for librarians of RADAR Network
Centers (specialized free lending libraries) to guide them in
the screening and selection of inhalant prevention videos, pamphlets
and other materials.
Download Documents: .
Developed
tools and products
- We lowered the cost of innovating, making it easy for people to
adapt innovative best practices by creating packages for different
audiences.
Provided
ongoing communication
- We
created a regional Workgroup to advise and support the process
that was happening at the individual state level. The regional
Workgroup has been a sounding board for what kinds of products
would be useful, what kinds of strategies are working or could
work at the state level. One to three representatives from each
state have met four times a year since the initial meeting in
Oct 2003. The meetings have changed from face meetings to virtual
teleconference meetings quarterly to accommodate limitations on
out-of-state travel.
- We
set up a moderated Newsgroup on Yahoo for our partners around
New England as a source for accurate information and best practices
about inhalant abuse. We have 85 members, including national experts,
who can post files, get questions answered, and receive updates
and resources about inhalant abuse prevention.
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