Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – National Prevention Week

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Prevention Week (NPW) is a public education platform that promotes prevention year-round through providing ideas, capacity building, tools, and resources to help individuals and communities make substance use prevention happen every day. This year National Prevention Week is May 10 – 16, 2020.

What topics does NPW address?

Each year, NPW incorporates daily health themes to focus on pressing substance use topics. The 2020 daily health themes are:
• Monday, May 11: Preventing Prescription Drug and Opioid Misuse
• Tuesday, May 12: Preventing Underage Drinking and Alcohol Misuse
• Wednesday, May 13: Preventing Illicit Drug Use and Youth Marijuana Use
• Thursday, May 14: Preventing Youth Tobacco Use (E-cigarettes and Vaping)
• Friday, May 15: Preventing Suicide

NPW Prevention Challenge: #PreventionHappensHere

Take the Challenge in Three Easy Steps

1. Download and fill out your #PreventionHappensHere sign.
2. Take a selfie with your sign in the place where prevention happens in your life.
3. Post your selfie on social media with the #PreventionHappensHere #NPW2020 hashtag and tag your location and your friends.

If you aren’t able to print the #PreventionHappenHere sign, that’s OK! Just follow steps two and three to share your prevention selfie and answer the sign questions below in your post caption.

PREVENTION HAPPENS IN ___________________
SHARE YOUR CITY, STATE, REGION, OR LOCATION
I’M PREVENTING ______________________
SHARE SPECIFIC SUBSTANCE MISUSE ISSUE(S) YOU’RE PREVENTING.

Prevention Happens Anywhere and Everywhere

Substance misuse prevention happens in a lot of places and communities. That’s why NPW is challenging you to take a selfie in the locations and environments where you are preventing substance misuse and suicide. Your selfie can be by yourself or with a group of people. Just show us where prevention happens in your life!

Need some ideas? Here’s some from NPW. Prevention happens:

• When you decide to take your dog for a walk instead of going to a big party with illegal substance use
• When two people discuss their mental health in their living room via FaceTime

For more information on NPW, check out their website here.

Looking for resources on Prescription drugs, Heroin, Marijuana, and Underage Drinking? Check out this course: http://www.georgiapreventionproject.org/resources/substance-abuse.php

Georgia HOPE is a supporter of SAMHSA National Prevention Week

We are here as a local resource in Georgia to help individuals, families and communities make substance use and suicide prevention happen every day. You don’t have to suffer alone. #HOPEisHere

If you’re interested in speaking to someone directly at Georgia HOPE about substance use recovery or mental health services, contact us today by clicking here.