Forum 18 Feature: SAFE Coalition Uses Comprehensive Approach to Prevent Inhalant Abuse

After a school survey showed that eighth-grade students in Chesterfield County, Va. were abusing inhalants at a rate twice the national average, the Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE) Coalition implemented a comprehensive prevention strategy targeting everyone from parents and youth to school bus drivers and guidance counselors.

The group put into action an approach that they learned at CADCA’s National Coalition Academy. Among the key components of SAFE’s plan was intensive training for police officers, substance abuse prevention leaders, mental health professionals and everyone working in a school environment on what inhalants were, how to safeguard inhalant products and how to recognize the signs of inhalant abuse.

“We discovered that nobody in our community knew anything about inhalant abuse at all, so our first step was to educate everyone in the community who worked with kids,” explained Sharyl Adams, SAFE’s Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist.

Adams will discuss SAFE’s unique approach and teach others how to develop a multi-pronged strategy to tackle inhalant abuse at CADCA’s National Leadership Forum, during a workshop, entitled “Facing Inhalant Abuse Using the CADCA Academy Model.”

Because inhalants are everyday products, such as typewriter correction fluid, air-conditioning refrigerant, felt tip markers, spray paint, air freshener, butane and cooking spray, and can be found anywhere, Adams said it’s important for teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators to be aware of the inhalants they have in their school so they can safeguard the products and be mindful of who uses them. Everyone has a role to play, Adams said.

“In Maryland, a student was huffing on the bus, so even bus drivers need to be aware of the dangers of inhalants,” she noted. “You need to engage the whole community when dealing with this issue.”

FACE also taught teachers, counselors, school resource officers, parents and prevention professionals about how to appropriately talk to young people about inhalant abuse, so that they didn’t inadvertently glamorize or promote inhalant use, or tell kids too much too soon.

During the “Facing Inhalant Abuse Using the CADCA Academy Model,” Adams will teach coalitions how to address inhalant abuse in a comprehensive way, using the principles taught by CADCA’s National Coalition Academy; and age-appropriate guidelines to follow when educating children and youth about inhalants.

“This is not going to be an Inhalants 101-type of workshop, instead participants will learn how to mobilize their entire community to help protect their kids against inhalant abuse,” Adams said.

For more information about the “Facing Inhalant Abuse Using the CADCA Academy Model” workshop or to read about other Forum workshops, visit www.cadca.org.