Author: Lynnette Allen
Planning Unit: Breckinridge County CES
Major Program: Substance Use Prevention and Recovery General
Plan of Work: Improving community wellness through nutrition, physical activity and safety
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
In 2019 the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service published county and state specific community needs assessment reports that identified substance abuse and mental wellness as a top priority for Breckinridge County families and across the state. Key stakeholders continue to express concerns regarding the negative effects that drug use has caused for families and children being placed in foster and kinship care. To increase awareness and create an environment to support recovery, the Breckinridge County FCS program hosted the Addiction 101 program in February 2021 during a lunch and learn zoom program. The program was supported by the local Youth Coalition through marketing and funding lunch gift cards for the 26 participants. UK Extension Professor, Dr. Alex Elswick shared an hour-long presentation about brain health during recovery and the support network needed to guard against relapse. Ninety-three percent of the participant surveys reported being very satisfied with the quality of the program and 86% reported the program benefited their professional development and/or practice. Participants reported that due to the program they gained a better understanding of addiction and the connection to mental health. Also, thru the presentation they gained an appreciation of substance use disorder as a chronic disease which can help reduces the stigma around substance use. Participants reported planning to make practice change by using the language of "people with substance abuse disease" instead of "drug addict". Also, it was reported the knowledge gained from the program would be applied to future substance use prevention programming. The Addiction 101 program provided science-based facts to strengthen Breckinridge County in their efforts in substance abuse recovery and prevention.
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