PREVENTION: SUBSTANCE ABUSE
HEALTHDISPARITIES
LEADERS WITH A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING
Today across American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities there are widespread prevention efforts to combat what our grandmothers and grandfathers know to be deterrents to healthy nations. Tribal leaders are well aware of the impact that substance abuse has on their communities and how prevention can be a key deterrent of associated socio-economic disparities that occur with the prevalence of substance abuse. Crime, law enforcement, child welfare, victimization, underage drinking, community safety, drug threats, and trafficking, are just some of the impacts that tribal leaders must address financially and systematically when prevention efforts do not work.
The primary illicit drugs of choice that tribal leaders search for ways to mitigate include marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, pharmaceuticals, and heroin. Traditionally, tribal communities have used methods to heal and treat the mind using natural approaches and core relationships (body, mind, spirit, mother earth) in support of those that are vulnerable and in need. How are leaders today to meet growing access to resources and support the detriments of mental health and the health of Indian people in the aftermath of substance abuse?
Three principles direct the approach, attitude, and activities of NACE. They are:
Bringing cultural attention, sensitivity, and regard to our interactions and relationships with AI/AN communities, service providers, researchers, and Native people as we invite them to participate in technical assistance, trainings, and gatherings;
Providing training, technical assistance, meetings, and products that are accurate in cultural, scientific, technical, and statistical terms; and
Developing and producing trainings, technical assistance, products, and services that are high quality and user-friendly in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner.
Prevention in AI/AN communities is effective when tribal leaders have a clear understanding of the problem. Short and long-term planning to build prevention efforts and coalitions requires strategic coordination of local activities and resources. Practice-based evidence and evidence-based practices are now being used to integrate traditional model effectiveness at the front lines by establishing system-level change policies.
The Native American Center for Excellence supports the field of prevention by providing information that will help tribal leaders be informed on current prevention efforts locally and nationally. Resources are provided to address the need for policy advocacy that promote prevention in every segment of the community. Areas that are addressed through online resources include policy implementation practices, workforce development, certification requirements, service-to-science, evaluation, community assessment, sustainability planning, and model development.
Creating communities where individuals, families, schools, faith-based organizations, and workplaces take action to promote emotional health and reduce the likelihood of mental illness, substance abuse including tobacco, and suicide. This Initiative will include a focus on the Nation’s high-risk youth, youth in Tribal communities, and military families.
According to 2009 data from the Treatment Episode Data Set, substance abuse treatment admissions aged 21 or older were more likely than persons of the same age in the general U.S. population.
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