New England PTTC

Date: April 8, 2025 Format: Webinar Time: 1:00 PM—2:30 PM EST Cost: FREE ABOUT THE LEARNING SESSION As cannabis laws continue to evolve across the country, prevention professionals and community stakeholders are faced with new challenges and opportunities in addressing youth substance use and promoting public health. This training will provide an overview of the current environment and explore practical strategies and best practices for responding to cannabis legalization at a community-level. From community education and policy advocacy to talking with youth about cannabis, this training will share valuable insights and actionable steps to address the impact of cannabis legalization on communities. This is an introductory level training designed especially for those who are new to cannabis prevention work, but all are welcome. Please note: this webinar will not be recorded. PRESENTER Mariah Flynn is a Certified Prevention Specialist who has worked in the substance misuse field in Vermont for 23+ years as a counselor, a case manager, and for the last 17 years as the Director of the Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community, a substance misuse prevention coalition serving Burlington, Vermont. She is a founding member of Prevention Works! Vermont, the Chittenden Prevention Network, and the Northwest Regional Prevention Network; statewide and regional efforts to coordinate substance use prevention resources and strategies for the areas, and she serves on the Steering Committee of Prevention Works! VT. Mariah also previously served as the Coordinator of the Tobacco Free College Campus Initiative for the state of Vermont and the Co-Chair of Smart Approaches to Marijuana-Vermont. Through fellowships with the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, she developed tools for Vermont prevention professionals and communities working on cannabis related policy improvement to use to help support prevention and public health at a community level. In addition to spending as much time with her two teenagers as they will let her, Mariah is also passionate about building communities that provide youth and families with the skills and environment that supports healthy choices. About the webinar: This webinar is hosted by the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, a program funded through cooperative agreement with SAMHSA. This webinar has been planned to address an identified need for training on cannabis for the New England prevention workforce. This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.5 contact hours by the Maine Prevention Certification Board, an IC&RC member board. Participants will receive a certificate for 1.5 contact hours, no partial credit will be awarded. For any questions about this training, please contact Kristen Erickson, [email protected].  

Opioid misuse and opioid use disorder can have significant impacts on health for individuals and communities. However, prevention can be effective in reducing opioid misuse and risk of overdose when prevention professionals have the tools and knowledge to implement evidence-based strategies to address opioid misuse when working with individuals and communities. Through this Project ECHO, we will seek to provide support and education for substance misuse prevention professionals to address issues related to opioid misuse in their states and communities with strategies supported by prevention science. The overall goal of this ECHO is to increase the use of evidence-based approaches for opioid misuse prevention among prevention professionals in New England. Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the Project ECHO, participants will be able to: Describe trends in opioid use at the local, state or national level. Identify current evidence-based strategies to address opioid misuse prevention. Discuss the intersection of prevention and harm reduction as it relates to opioid misuse and opioid use disorder. Describe the role of the prevention specialist to address impacts of opioid use at the community level Project ECHO®: Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) is an evidence-based distance learning method developed by researchers at the University of New Mexico, in which a group of faculty experts meets regularly with a participant cohort to engage in case-based discussion and learning. Each session will include a brief expert-led educational segment and an extended participant-led case discussion. This Project ECHO is hosted by CCSME, a Project ECHO Hub site, a partner of the New England PTTC. Potential topics for discussion: Understanding the opioid drug supply Evidence-based practices for opioid misuse prevention Intersections of prevention, harm reduction, and recovery Reducing stigma and supporting affected communities Schedule: ECHO will meet every other Wednesday from 1:00-2:00 pm, April 23 through June 18, 2025 April 23 May 7 May 21 June 4 June 18

The FDA has broad authority to enact potentially transformative tobacco control policies, including banning menthol flavoring in cigarettes and reducing the allowable level of nicotine in cigarettes. This webinar will give an overview of the rationale, evidence base, and status of these policies as they relate to preventing youth tobacco use.   About the Presenter: Rachel Cassidy is an Associate Professor at Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies and Vice Chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department in the School of Public Health. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Florida in Psychology, and did her postdoctoral training in substance use at Brown University. She has been a faculty member at Brown since 2014, and her work has been continuously funded by NIH since that time. Her work is focused on adolescent cigarette smoking and the potential for tobacco regulatory policy to impact youth tobacco product use, and the application of behavioral economic methods to understanding cigarette and e-cigarette use.   About the webinar: This webinar is hosted by the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, a program funded through cooperative agreement with SAMHSA. This webinar has been planned to address an identified need for training on tobacco policy for the New England prevention workforce. This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 contact hour by the Maine Prevention Certification Board, an IC&RC member board. Participants will receive a certificate for 1.0 contact hour, no partial credit will be awarded. This webinar is relevant to IC&RC Prevention Domains 5 and 6, and ATOD topics. For any questions about this training, please contact Kristen Erickson, [email protected].

This toolkit was designed for use by Substance Use Prevention Professionals in Maine, to assist in engaging in policy education with decision-makers at all levels.  

The New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center created this document as part of a Technical Assistance Request to support the Maine Recovery Council's Prevention Ad Hoc Subcommittee in their strategic planning process to identify gaps in prevention funding and opioid use prevention services and create strategy funding recommendations. This document shows how the subcommittee identified substance misuse prevention funding priorities for the Opioid Settlement Dollars through that strategic planning process. This document shows the workplan and outcomes of this process for the workgroup itself to reflect back on in future planning and also offers a process guide for other entities (municipalities, states, regions, etc.) who want an example of a robust process to examine the prevention landscape in other places, demonstrate service gaps, and prioritize funding for opioid use/misuse prevention using opioid settlement dollars.   The Maine Recovery Council: The Maine Recovery Council was established pursuant to the Maine State Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds and 5 M.R.S.A. §203-C. The purpose of the Council is to direct the disbursement of funds within the Maine Recovery Fund for specific uses throughout the state to address the opioid crisis in Maine. Examples of approved uses are reversing overdoses through naloxone or other FDA-approved drugs, expanding the availability of medication-assisted treatment for Mainers struggling with opioid use disorder, helping Mainers avoid opioid use through evidence-based prevention programs, and providing additional special education resources to Maine school administrative units. The Council comprises 15 members appointed by the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the Attorney General, and certain counties, cities, and towns in Maine.   All council meetings are held in person unless otherwise specified on the notice and agenda. Council meetings are open to the public, and members of the public are permitted to attend to observe but not participate unless otherwise specified on the notice and agenda. Members of the public may also observe by a remote video link provided in each agenda.   Process for Prevention Workgroup prioritizing: The New England PTTC worked with the Maine Recovery Council (MRC) to help process the priorities for funding prevention strategies in Maine for the 2024-2025 fiscal years. The New England PTTC proposed supporting a strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) planning process, which was accepted by the Maine Recovery Council and spearheaded by the MRC Prevention Seat, Liz Blackwell-Moore. The MRC had identified Prevention as a priority in their MOU with the Maine Office of the Attorney General, responsible for the stewardship of the money from the state to communities. These strategy recommendations were presented to the Council in October 2024,  and were accepted by the Council in November 2024.

Against the Odds - Problem Gambling Graphic Medicine, is a new tool to help foster prevention-focused conversations with young people about problem gambling. Tips for talking & lesson plans are included. Technical assistance is available. A graphic medicine uses the format of a graphic novel to communicate health information. Evidence shows that the visuals combined with the information can help with memory of important information, as well as understanding and comprehension. We worked with SOPO Unite in South Portland, Maine, to create this student-lead story about five friends, while struggling with the normal ups and downs of life as a teenager in small-town New England, now find themselves with a bigger problem on their claws...I mean, hands! The plastics factory on the outskirts of town had a chemical leak, and it's really killed the vibes. Now these friends have to launch an epic grass-roots community clean up, before the vibes kill them! Throughout the story, we see one friend, Luke, struggle with his gambling habits, and another friend, Bishop, struggle with the impacts of the environmental crisis on his well-being. Still, those obvious struggles aren't the only ones. Stay until the end to catch how the students find a connection as medicine, and check out the accompanying Implementation guide to see all the ways the story can be a tool for you to talk to young people about problem gambling. Preview and download (PDF) Preview (in English) - Available Now! Complete the Request Form below to receive a copy. Preview (in Portuguese) -  coming in the Spring 2025 Preview (in Spanish) - coming in the Spring 2025   Printed copy or electronic copy (PDF format) for download, available in January 2025. Please complete the Request Form.   *The New England PTTC is only able to mail printed copies to those working/living in HHS Region 1 (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI). If you request a copy working/living outside of HHS Region 1, we'll send you an electronic copy (PDF format) to download. Please complete the Request Form.   For Facilitators    Download the Facilitators Implementation Guide. Download the Guide (full color) - available in January Download the Guide (grayscale) - available in January   Through our cooperative agreement with SAMHSA and our Agility Grant through the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), all our resources are free to the public.   Questions? Contact Sarah Harlow, Co-Director, New England PTTC: [email protected]   About this resource: This resource was developed to address a need identified in HHS Region 1 (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI) to provide substance misuse prevention professionals with tools for substance misuse prevention and gambling prevention. This resource is developed through the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA), SAMHSA Cooperative Agreement #5H79SP081020-03.  This resource was made possible through a partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) through the-award-of a one-year Agility Grant. For more information on the Agility Grant through NCPG, please visit: https://www.ncpgambling.org/problem-gambling/agility-grants/.