Designing healthy communities for children

Earlier this summer, Dr. Richard Jackson spoke at Seattle Children's Hospital about "Designing Healthy Communities for Children".  Many examples of the connection between health and the physical design of communities were discussed.

Though Dr. Jackson mostly spoke about health problems related to obesity, his presentation can be used when thinking about preventing youth substance abuse.  What can we do in our community to support healthy choices when it comes to teen drug use?  Are there a lot of stores selling alcohol, tobacco, and soon marijuana?  How about advertising?  Are youth exposed to ads for these substances?  Are there easy to access pro-social activities for youth?

He noted that we are all living in environments imagined by the people from previous generations.  He stressed that is is important for us to imagine healthy environments for future generations and work together to turn that imagination into reality.

Changing behavior by changing community environments

Though this 5 minute video from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) focuses on food policy, those of us who work to prevent youth substance abuse can learn from it.

In the video, Dr. Wansink discusses:

• How we can change behavior by changing the environment in which people live, work and play.  People are highly influenced by the things around them.
• That even small barriers to accessing unhealthy foods give people pause to reconsider if they should eat it or not.  (The same is true for drugs and alcohol.)
• The importance of "small p" policy such as putting healthy foods first in a school cafeteria.  While large scale ("big P") public policy is important, small scale policy implemented in community organizations, schools and neighborhoods play an important role, as well.   

Free online training: What is environmental substance abuse prevention?

What are environmental youth substance abuse prevention strategies?  How do they differ from prevention strategies for individuals?  You can learn this and more through free, web-based courses available at the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center's website.

The Environmental Strategies course includes information about:

• Youth alcohol consumption patterns and the size and scope of the youth alcohol market.
• The 4 P's of prevention as a tool for analyzing community alcohol environments.
• The concept of environmental prevention.
• Concrete illustrations of the concept.  

Learn about substance abuse prevention online for free

During tomorrow's general coalition meeting, Prevention WINS members will discuss how to educate the community about public policy related to preventing youth substance abuse.  Working on public policy issues is one example of an "environmental" prevention strategy.

As part of their Pathways to Prevention program, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) has a good, free online course that provides an overview of environmental prevention strategies.  According to CSAP, types of environmental strategies include:

• Policy
• Enforcement
• Education
• Communication
• Collaboration