Dr. Alex Elswick is a tireless advocate for people with substance use disorders.  He currently serves the University of Kentucky as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist for Substance Use Prevention and Recovery.

My guest today has well over 13 years of prevention experience, working with individuals and communities that want to grow through strategic and evidence-based solutions. She has led community substance use and suicide prevention efforts AND within that work she coaches individuals in the areas of leadership, finance and wellness.

Most addiction is rooted in the teenage years: 9 in 10 all adults with substance use disorders began using one or more drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana before the age of 18. A key reason for this is the unique vulnerability of the still-developing teen brain to substance use. The earlier substance use is initiated, the more likely an individual is to develop a substance use disorder. And if teens use one substance, they are far more likely to use others as well.

On this episode, we’ve got a team that has a strong desire in their hearts to reach out to at-risk youth with support, encouragement, prevention services, community resources and most of all, showing them the unconditional love they deserve.

Today, we’re going to have a different conversation around college life and substance use; one that focuses on holistic health, rather than one of misuse. You see, the team there is enlisting the entire community to make a difference; creating a culture of healthy community, connections, and coping skills; and reducing substance misuse and its harms.

Take a trip with me across the globe to Bali and listen in as I have a conversation with the one and only Sober Yoga Girl. We chat about everything from our sober journeys, sober-versaries, mindfulness, and of course sober yoga.

A former NFL center, Randy Grimes lived as everyone’s all-American—with a successful 10-year career for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a beautiful and devoted college-sweetheart-turned-wife, and two healthy children. But pain took over, and the prescription pills used to treat chronic injuries eventually led to playing in blackouts. When Randy’s career ended, the pills continued—feeding an opioid addiction that would last 20+ years and erode his identity, health, and family.

Hillary shares her wisdom from working in wilderness therapy to community mental health, providing in-home & school-based services, as a therapist with specialties including working with anxiety, trauma, addiction, and veterans. She has a ton of great resources on motivational interviewing for you! So take some time and check out her website.

Every Brain Matters is a community of support, advocacy, and science. Join us, as we call for a cultural change with the widespread use of our logo, which unites us and symbolizes both “freedom from marijuana” and optimal brain and environmental health.

It was my second time on the DEA’s Prevention Profiles: Take Five podcast with host Rich Lucey. Being asked to contribute again was a huge honor, but getting to speak about a topic I am so passionate about as well was truly an awesome experience!

In this episode, I unpack what the turnkey revolution is and how it can help you in setting up your prevention team so that you have systems and processes set up for a consistent, effective, and orderly way of doing your work. Day in and day out, so that the prevention team is systems dependent and not people dependent.

As prevention leaders, we talk about culture. Cultural competence is at the core of the strategic prevention framework and woven through each step. But today I want to talk about the culture of your prevention team. Not diversity – but culture.

For today’s episode, I’ve recorded my story of ups, downs, struggles, and wins. It is my hope that the challenges I experienced can be prevented or at least quickly and effectively addressed for the future generation of veterans.

Today’s episode is a little different. It’s a quick mini-episode with Angie and Karie from HueLife. A quick refresher from the last episode, the Huelife mission is to educate, facilitate and inspire engagement in meaningful action for the greater good of communities and organizations.

In today’s episode we will be talking about leading a DFC coalition, writing for years 1-5 and for 6-10, and a proven process that builds buy-in and sustainability right from the beginning.

In today's episode, I share 5 questions to guide your strategic planning process and introduce the DEA's newest publication, Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students.

In this episode, I have a wonderful conversation with Angie and Karie from Hue.life. They share key insights, lessons learned, and strategies to build an engaged and driven coalition. We dive into the process they use to build buy-in, trust, ownership, and sustainability in community coalitions across the country.

In today's episode, I share 5 questions to guide your strategic planning process and introduce the DEA's newest publication, Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students.

For today’s episode, I wanted to talk about Motivational Interviewing for Campus Police. Ryan Snow and I recently spoke on this very same topic at the NASPA Strategies conference and folks wanted more and more info about how they can get their campus police officers involved. So I thought I’d break down the basics of campus police using motivational interviewing on patrol.

Although we have a number of buzzwords focused on diversity and cultural inclusion, this topic should have always been at the forefront of our minds. In fact, when you truly examine our code of ethics and the Strategic Prevention Framework, is it obvious that diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded in our professional standards?