Prevention is using upstream thinking to make community-wide changes that protect kids early on. Prevention work reduces risk factors that contribute to youth substance use and mental health problems while increasing factors known to protect youth and build resilience. Prevention efforts serve as a catalyst to increase participation and collaboration among all members of a community. Learn What Works and What Doesn’t in prevention.
Research shows a connected community is a strong and healthy community.
We aim to bring together everyone working to prevent substance use and other behavioral health problems among young people in Ravalli County. Our coalition, Bitterroot Cares, includes members from each community group and strengthens our ability to implement prevention.
To achieve this we include parents, youth, schools, media, businesses, government, faith communities, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and other prevention groups. Each group contributes unique perspectives and knowledge to make our interventions relevant and effective.
Image (right) courtesy of Drug Free Communities
Thinking Upstream
Prevention is stopping behavioral health issues before they occur. We do this by thinking “upstream”. Thinking upstream means looking beyond the negative effects the current problem is causing to why the problem is happening in the first place.
Visit this link to watch a video explaining upstream thinking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpJ4h8sxOJg
Strategic Prevention Framework
We follow a data-driven planning process to understand and effectively address youth behavioral health problems in our community.
