SAMHSA Prevention PlatformSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Resources, has a Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) that allows communities to work together to provide healthy environments at work and school. SAMHSA has a prevention platform, where they lay out their plan for substance abuse prevention in local communities. The first step in this platform is to assess the needs in the community. They do this by looking at data gathered by state or community, utilizing state funding summaries, state juvenile justice profiles, and risk and protective factors for family, school, peer, and community. They utilize statistics and data from Monitoring the Future, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse), Risk and Protective Factors, and The Dawn Report. The next step in the SAMHSA prevention platform is capacity building, involving gathering human, organizational, and financial resources to meet the goals identified during the assessment stage. Training and technical assistance are provided to fill any gaps. They utilize training from CADCA’s Coalition Institute; incorporate the valuable components of the Communities that Care Survey, including the Strategic Prevention Framework; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders training, focusing on training people with FASD, members of their families, healthcare providers, social workers, researchers, and community health advocates; and other training modules from around the country. The next step in the platform is planning. This involves creating “a comprehensive plan with goals, objectives, and strategies” for the needs identified in the community. Suggested resources for making the community plan are the Drug Free Planning Guide, and Environmental Strategies: A Guide to Helping the Prevention Professional Work Effectively in the Community. The next phase is implementation. Implementing the plan set forth in the previous step, utilizing the capacities already in place. Implementing a plan for each community will become more effective if they have built its solid foundation based on the statistics and data for their specific community. The last step is evaluation. Evaluating your assessments, capacity, planning and implementation will help in making changes for the next cycle. Used as a continuous cycle, this Prevention Platform will continually grow as your community grows. Seek out areas that need improvement; identify successes and determine which areas need to grow. Utilizing this Prevention Platform in your community will assist you in creating a working program for your community. For more information, you can visit www.prevention.samhsa.gov. |