Support Programs
Youth Alcohol and Substance Use Prevention (YA-SUP!) assists parents and community partners in introducing after-school activities, supporting evidence-based curricula, and providing educational programs to prevent alcohol and substance abuse among youth.
Call us to learn more: 208-994-8507
Central District Health is proud to partner with Communities for Youth, which uses an upstream prevention approach to youth mental health. That means we work with communities to identify and address risk and protective factors. Learn more here.
Early-Age Substance Use
The human brain continues to develop well into a person’s 20s. Alcohol and drugs can alter this development, potentially affecting both brain structure and function. Substance use during the teen years increases the risk for immediate and lasting harm, as these changes can affect attention and memory and can cause difficulty learning. People who start drinking before the age of 15 are at a higher risk for developing alcohol use disorder (AUD) later in life. A person who uses addictive substances at 12-13 years of age is 50% more likely to develop substance use disorder (SUD) in their lifetime. The younger a kid is when they start using substances, the higher their risk of addiction and lifelong substance use disorder becomes.
Resources
How to Prevent Substance Misuse?
- Make an effort to get to know the parents of your children’s friends. Share your rules about not allowing alcohol use.
- Know where your children are, what they are doing, who they are with, and who their friends are.
- Have open and honest conversations about the potential risks of substance use and other situations in which a person’s choices affect the outcome. Positive choices. Positive life.
- Be a positive adult role model.
- Help youth to learn and practice “Refusal Skills.”
- Reduce risk and strengthen protective factors.
- Promote healthy risk-taking activities.
- Implement routine family dinners.
- Delay the onset of first use.
- Build children, youth, and adolescent self-efficacy.
- Practice mindfulness.
- Healthy eating.
- Adequate sleep.
Economics of Prevention
Evidence-based interventions for substance use can save society money in medical costs and help individuals remain productive members of society. Such programs can return anywhere from very little to $65 per every dollar invested in prevention.
(Source: nida.nih.gov)
Warning Signs
Many youth may show behaviors in adolescence that are indicative of substance abuse but can also be considered normal behaviors while growing up. It is important to notice if there are several signs happening simultaneously, if they occur suddenly, and if the behaviors are extreme. The following behaviors in a youth might indicate drug or alcohol abuse:
- Mood changes (temper flare-ups, irritability, defensiveness)
- Academic problems (poor attendance, low grades, disciplinary action)
- Changing friends and a reluctance to have parents/family get to know the new friends
- A “nothing matters” attitude (lack of involvement in former interests, general low energy)
- Finding substances (drugs or alcohol) in the youth’s room or personal effects
- Physical or mental changes (memory lapses, poor concentration, lack of coordination, slurred speech, etc.)
(Source: Youth.gov)
Social Media Impact
A 2011 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University showed that teens who use social media were more likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana than teens who do not use social media, and risk was higher for those who had seen pictures of kids using or passed out from alcohol or drugs.
- Social media activates the reward pathway in the brain, similar to drug use
- Exposes youth to drugs or alcohol
- Makes it more accessible for anyone to buy or sell illegal substances
- Can contribute to feelings of sadness, depression, and social isolation