Coalitions Rising

Prevention is an ever-changing field with new developments and practices emerging regularly. Over time, new substances emerge that must be contended with, community norms evolve and affect risk and protective factors, old grants dry up and new ones are created, and evidence-based practices emerge. As practitioners in prevention, it can be difficult to stay on top of these changes and to incorporate them into your efforts.

Prevention Action Alliance, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, created Coalitions Rising to bring together community coalitions, behavioral healthcare providers, youth-led prevention groups, and others to equip them with best practices for prevention. Coalitions Rising will bring national and state leaders in prevention to present on a variety of topics, including how to put cultural competency at the core of your work in prevention, sustainable funding practices, and how to engage key partners such as Ohio’s faith leaders , among other topics.

This one-day conference in Columbus, Ohio, will be held at the Renaissance Columbus-Westerville-Polaris Hotel on December 4, 2019. Registration includes a continental breakfast and lunch. We will apply for Continuing Education from the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board, the Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board, and National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.

Hotel Information:

A discounted room rate has been secured for attendees of Coalitions Rising. Please click here to reserve your hotel room. Don't wait, the reserved rate will end November 15!

Session Information

Pause, Reflect, and Connect: 3 Steps to Care for Ourselves So That We Can Care for Others

By Brandi Lust

Founder, Learning Lab Consulting

When we don’t pause to replenish our own resources, we are less resilient and less effective in our care of others. So how can we sustain ourselves in order to do the work that matters to us?

Creating pause in the midst of movement, making time to reflect, and purposefully connecting with others are three steps we can incorporate into our lives. Learn how to implement these tools and leave with a personal plan to create more resilience in your life.

About Brandi Lust

Brandi Lust is the founder of Learning Lab Consulting and the author of Myths of Being Human: Four Paths to Connect with What Matters. Through both her work and her writing she helps schools, businesses, and individuals lower stress, build resilience, and create more connection through tools like mindfulness and social-emotional learning.

Brandi believes that our common humanity enhances the workplace; when we bring our whole selves to everything we do, both the easy and the hard stuff, we are more fulfilled and more effective. Her clients include The Ohio State University, the Columbus Museum of Art, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Equality Ohio, Americorp, and many school districts and businesses throughout Central Ohio.

Brandi has a Bachelor’s degree in English from The Ohio State University and earned her M.A.Ed. from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. She has over a decade of experience as an educator and facilitator and maintains a daily mindfulness practice.

Worldview Dynamics: The Intersection of Culture, Faith, History, and Mental Health

By Alfredo Cerrato

Senior Cultural and Workforce Development Officer, Great Lakes Technology Transfer Centers

When we look at integrated systems of learned behavior, the philosophical maps of how we view reality, and the history that brought us to this moment, we then may be able recognize why we are the way we are and what shaped us. Alfredo Cerrato will take us on a journey that will better explain the dynamics and intersections of culture, faith, history, and mental health. Together, we will consider our worldview, the worldview of others, and how they were shaped.

Communicating across cultures requires an interdisciplinary approach. That approach involves literacy in fields such as anthropology, cultural studies, history, psychology, religion, and communications, among others. With a better understanding of these global dynamics, we can develop practical strategies. These strategies will help us attract and serve a more diversified and growing population within our community and organizations.

Developing Prevention in the Faith Community

By Jodi Salvo and Amanda Conn Starner

People rely on their faith community for help and growth. The structure of most faith organizations lends itself to a powerful base of prevention and a protective factor for youth. Yet, many places of worship do not recognize their already powerful role in reducing substance misuse rates for not only youth, but the family unit as well.

This workshop will be two-fold in its approach. First, it will discuss how the religious community is a significant sector represented in one coalition in Ohio. Second, it will show you how to use a "Building Prevention With Faith" toolkit to teach members of a congregation to carry out prevention on their own.

By participating, you will learn to show communities of faith how prevention serves their congregations. You’ll also learn how to create prevention strategies for young people and adults engaged in faith communities. Finally, you’ll learn how to build prevention capacity by applying community readiness strategies with the faith sector.

Sustainable Funding for Coalitions

By Bevin Van Wassenhove

Executive Director, Dearborn County Community Advocates for Substance Use Awareness

As prevention specialists, we all have the passion and motivation to promote healthy choices among the youth we work with; but the question always comes down to, HOW will we fund these programs and how can we sustain them when the grant funding runs out?

Dearborn County Community Advocates has been included as a line item in the City of Lawrenceburg’s annual operating budget since 2011. County and city leaders are committed to this coalition’s mission of promoting substance use prevention and healthy choices with the youth in our county. This session will share the process this coalition took to get the support from their city officials and how they continue their work to maintain this support.

Attendees of this session will learn the steps one coalition took to receive continued financial support from a city. They'll also review steps coalitions can follow to build and continue support from city and county officials. And they'll learn the main points coalitions can build to seek out this support and maintain it.