Rikki Barton has a passion for moving individuals and communities onward in their goals. She is the CEO/Lead Consultant of Onward Consulting and is an Internationally Certified Prevention Specialist. Rikki has over 16 years of prevention field experience and currently serves as a consultant to assist organizations, coalitions, and state/federal agencies in the areas of substance use prevention, suicide prevention, and mental health promotion. She has extensive experience working with community coalitions, providing expertise in training, public speaking, grant writing, grant evaluation, management of funding sources, and leading a team of preventionists.

Rikki trains for several national organizations, including CADCA’s youth and adult programs, the Opioid Response Network, the National Coalition Institute, various Prevention Technology Transfer Centers (PTTC), as well as the National Council for Mental Wellbeing as an Adult, Youth, and Teen Mental Health First Aid Instructor. She is certified to provide nationally acknowledged trainings through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), including Prevention Ethics, Prevention Core Competencies, and SPF Application for Prevention Success (SAPST).

While Rikki’s passion and subject matter expertise stretches to a wide variety of topics, there are three topics that spark her the most. The first is youth engagement – how to best engage with young people and making prevention something they are inspired to work in. The second is online safety for young people in terms of substance use, mental health, and online exploitation - including empowering youth to stay safe on social media and teaching adults how to help protect young people. The third is professional development in the prevention field – enhancing the workforce to promote retention and work satisfaction.

Rikki holds a Bachelors degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Masters degree from Liberty University. In her free time, Rikki loves exploring the outdoors on hikes with her rescue dog, Oreo.