Prevention WINS January meeting

Save the date . . .

DFC Celebration & General Coalition Meeting
Thursday, January 20, 2011
8:00 - 9:30 a.m.
Seattle Children's Hospital, G-1026

NE Seattle parent survey

Prevention WINS is conducting a survey of northeast Seattle parents about underage drinking and youth marijuana use in our community. If you are a parent of a child in grades K-12 in NE Seattle, please take few minutes to take the survey!

While all Seattle parents are welcome to take the survey, the coalition is targeting NE Seattle parents since the survey results will help us develop prevention strategies for NE Seattle families. Prevention WINS has funding to serve NE Seattle due to the high underage drinking rates in our community's high schools. Coalitions in other areas of the city are addressing youth substance abuse in West, South, and Central Seattle.

Some parents who have taken the survey have voiced concerns about questions asking about what they think other parents in our community do when it comes to preventing substance abuse among their children. One of the reasons this survey is being conducted is to assess social norms among parents in NE Seattle. The questions in the survey are asked specifically for that purpose.

Perceptions of others' behaviors about, for example, parenting practices and attitudes toward the risk of using marijuana, have a significant effect on and individuals own behavior. If the survey results indicate a discrepancy between parenting behaviors and perceptions of parenting behavioral norms in our community, the coalition may use that information to develop a social norms marketing campaign.

December coalition meeting

Prevention Works in Seattle will host its next general meeting:

Thursday, December 17, 2009
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Eckstein Middle School

For more information email the coalition coordinator.

Meetings are open to everyone!

Partnership with LCB

Over the past three years, the Prevention WINS coalition has been fortunate to have the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) as a strong community partner. Lt. Susan Blaker, Regional Government Liaison, has been an active member of the coalition's Enforcement & Consequences Roundtable, a group that gets together regularly with the goal of increasing communication and cooperation between enforcement agencies, courts, and probation.

Lt. Blaker recently emailed me to tell me about the work Seattle Liquor Control Officers are doing. She wrote:

I took an informal poll of our officers asking for an approximate number of MIP’s (Minor In Possession) they have written this past summer. Our Seattle team reports 73 . These citations are above the officer’s regular duties performed inside licensed premises. The officers report contacting intoxicated juveniles as young as 14 years of age in high crime areas of Capitol Hill.

We have an amazing high energy group and I wanted you to be aware of their efforts in this area of public safety.

In northeast Seattle, the LCB has been working with the Seattle Police Department to remove the liquor license from a local mini-mart that has a long history of selling alcohol to minors.

The LCB has been supportive of statewide prevention, as well. As I've blogged about previously, the LCB is in the process of changing rules regarding alcohol advertising to reduce youth exposure to them.

Preventing underage drinking and youth substance abuse is a community-wide endeavor that includes students, parents, schools, community organizations and agencies. We are fortunate to have dedicated partners like the LCB and other enforcement agencies.

May newsletter

The coalition's May 2009 newsletter came out today. It includes articles about the police response to large underage drinking parties in parks and about the prevention group at Nathan Hale High School (RADD).

Raising healthy teenagers

The current edition of the Journal Newspapers contains a cover story that is about "Raising healthy teenagers". It includes information from the coalition's March 23 parenting forum, Keeping Track of Teens:

Here’s some good news: Kids today report feeling more connected to their parents than those in the last few generations. According to J. David Hawkins, PhD, of the University of Washington Social Development Research Group and developer of Guiding Good Choices, parents have a much greater influence on their kids than they think.

“All the research shows that parents really do continue to be a very influential force in kids’ lives all the way through to college,” said Hawkins, who spoke at a March 23 parenting forum called “Keeping Track of Teens” at Eckstein Middle School in North Seattle. He encouraged parents to set clear guidelines about things like underage drinking and make those known to your kids.

His Guiding Good Choices curriculum teaches parents the importance of forming strong bonds with their kids by interacting with them on a regular basis, setting clear standards, providing the opportunities and skills to be successful, and recognizing efforts for improvement and achievement.

“[Our kids] will feel emotionally attached and connected to us, which creates the motivation to live by the standards set by our family,” explained Hawkins. “It’s important to keep the bonds strong.”

Carolyn Bernhard is the co-chair of a coalition of parents and community members in Northeast Seattle called Prevention Works in Seattle. The coalition hosted the recent parenting forum at Eckstein, where Bernhard’s 14-year-old daughter attends school. She saw how much a part of the high school culture alcohol was when her 21-year-old daughter was that age. “I’ve been involved [in the coalition] from the beginning. It gave me a way to try to change that culture,” she said.

The emphasis is on the middle school years. “If we can get parents and kids to understand the benefits of not drinking, we can make a difference at the high school and college level,” she said. “With the work we’re doing in middle school, my hope is that there will be a core group of kids who get to high school and choose not to drink, and still be cool.”

Keeping Track of Teens

Last night, parents packed the Eckstein Middle School library to hear David Hawkins from the UW Social Development Research Group (SDRG) and Ruth Herold from Changes Parent Support Network talk about "Keeping Track of Teens".

Dr. Hawkins encouraged parents to take advantage of the free Guiding Good Choices workshops being offered by the Prevention WINS coalition in northeast Seattle. The SPF-SIG grant that covers the cost of these workshops ends in September 2010, so time is running out for parents who want to take the workshops for free!

The SDRG website contains links to many presentations given by Dr. Hawkins and his colleagues at SDRG, especially Richard Catalano. One of the presentations, Good Parenting IS Prevention, is mainly about Guiding Good Choices.

David Hawkins and Ruth Herold answer questions from parents.

General coalition meeting 2/23

The next general meeting of Prevention Works In Seattle (formerly NE Seattle Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking) will take place

Monday, February 23,
12:45 - 2:15 p.m.,
Eckstein Middle School, P10

The agenda includes reviewing new data to update our community assessment and planning for increased "environmental" strategies for the Drug Free Communities grant.

All coalition meetings are open to everyone interested in reducing underage drinking and youth substance use/abuse.

Interested in participating in the coalition but can't make daytime meetings? Consider joining one of the coalition workgroups. Active workgroups include:

• Media Advocacy Workgroup
• Parenting Workgroup
• Drug Free Homes Parent Pledge Workgroup
• Funding & Sustainability Workgroup
• Enforcement & Consequences Roundtable.

Except for the Roundtable, all workgroups meet in the evening.