MONTEREY — Montage Health is partnering with Monterey Peninsula Unified School District and the Drug Free Communities grant coalition to host a Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Symposium on Tuesday.
The symposium aims to bring together local students, community leaders and public health experts to highlight efforts to prevent substance use among Monterey County youth.
It will be a hybrid format, available virtually online or in-person at Montage’s Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, 6 Lower Ragsdale Dr., Monterey from 5 to 7 p.m.
The symposium will feature local high school students involved in campus drug prevention clubs, who will showcase their peer-led projects. Past student initiatives have included students presenting student-produced awareness videos, the creation and placement of naloxone distribution bins in high-risk areas and campaigns centered on mental health, self-care and substance-use prevention.
“Youth substance use prevention is most effective when young people are leading the conversation,” said Krista Reuther, assistant director of community health and prevention at Ohana in a press release. “This symposium highlights the insight, compassion and problem solving skills students bring to prevention efforts, and it shows how powerful change can be when communities listen to and invest in youth leadership.”
Also featured will be live demonstrations on how to administer naloxone, a lifesaving medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses.
Funding for the symposium comes from the Drug Free Communities program, a grant coalition through the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. Montage Health administers the Drug Free Communities grant on behalf of the Ohana program, which is Montage Health’s child, adolescent and family mental health program.
To register for the symposium and to learn more about the event, visit https://www.montagehealth.org/youth-substance-use–prevention-symposium/