I don’t need to tell parents with young adults that the holiday season will be here before we know it. That would not be considered breaking news. However, I do have an important message that I hope will help you and your family enjoy time together this holiday season and for years to come: The holidays provide an excellent opportunity to talk to your young adults—about the devastating effects of opioid and prescription drug misuse.
Believe it or not, your adult children will listen, as long as they feel you are approaching them from a place of love, support, and, most of all, an open line of...
As a recent college graduate, I can attest to how grateful I feel to have gotten an early start to my career in prevention. I have gained new skills that I will take with me through graduate school and my career, met new friends and colleagues, and had the opportunity to travel and learn in new places. I found the work that I was doing to be personally fulfilling and to be beneficial to our communities, especially the work I was doing on my campus as a peer educator and student leader. Fortunately, I never felt I had to be silent because I was a student rather than a staff member. In fact,...
When sharing my prevention story, I often tease that I went from enforcement to prevention. That is partially true as I was a campus police officer prior to working solely in prevention. That switch isn’t as farfetched as most would think. Enforcement plays an important role in prevention. In fact, you won’t be able to implement environmental change strategies unless you collaborate with your law enforcement agencies.
Dave Closson
Collaborating is exciting, but it also can seem scary – particularly for people unaccustomed to working with law enforcement. During my time as a campus police...
Last year, in early October, a colleague forwarded me the call for submissions for the DEA’s first annual Campus Video PSA Contest. Of course I was familiar with Red Ribbon Week, which occurs annually on October 23-31, but had not heard about the video PSA contest. After looking over the information, I thought about it, but initially did not seriously consider entering. I had never made a video, and although I was interested in the power that video messages could have it seemed like too big an undertaking (especially in October, which we all know is a very hectic time in higher education!)....
The start of this academic year represents a milestone of sorts for me. I began as a first-year student at the University of Washington (UW) in September 1987; now, 30 years later, I have the honor of working in both a research capacity and a student life capacity at the very campus that shaped my professional identity. It was in fall 1989 that I began working with Mary Larimer (then a graduate student and now director of the Center for the Study of Health & Risk Behaviors) and Dr. G. Alan Marlatt, who would become my advisor and mentor in graduate school, on the development, evaluation,...