Community Resources

Mar

2023

WLEN Interview with Pathways Engagement Center Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee.

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Dawn Finney. Dawn is a Certified Peer Recovery Coach and also the Outreach Coordinator with Pathways here in Adrian. Dawn, that’s the only hats you’re wearing, right?

Dawn Finney: Yeah. For, for right now I think that’s enough.

Kathy Williams: It is enough. So tell us, we’re going to talk a little bit tonight about upcoming social events that are happening at Pathways. Can… What’s, what’s going on?

Dawn Finney: Yep. At Pathways two times a week, we do have social events. They start at 9:00 PM.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: They’re free of charge and anybody can come.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: And for example, Saturday the 11th at nine we have the event of Coffee and Canvas. We just drink coffee, we, we paint. It’s kind of self-explanatory, and just talk and kind of relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Kathy Williams: Is that something you offer every month then?

Dawn Finney: Yes, two times a week every month.

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go.

Dawn Finney: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: So if you miss this one, you can come to the next one.

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. Yep. And you can find all of our upcoming events on the LRN website.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: So, Tuesday the 14th, we have the Guest Choice, which means, you know, if you come in and you want to play cards? We’re going to play cards. We have board games, we can paint. We could watch movies. Whatever you want to do, we can do. We just find it nice to talk to people in a safe environment.

Kathy Williams: Right. Well, and even if you want to do nothing, you can do that too.

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. Just come on in.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, it’s, it’s good to be around like-minded people that are going through the same maybe social or psychological struggles and have that judgment free zone.

Dawn Finney: Yeah. Yeah. There’s, you know, there’s peer recovery coaches there. And we understand. We, we know there’s not a story that you can tell us that, that one of us cannot relate to.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Exactly. What else do you have coming up?

Dawn Finney: On Friday the 17th, we have Music Night. Sometimes we do karaoke. We have a gentleman who plays guitar.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: It’s a lot of fun actually. That’s one of our most favorite things that we have. A lot of people do come to that.

Kathy Williams: So. . If, if a person wants to find out about these different events though, they can go on which website or Facebook page?

Dawn Finney: You can go to the Pathways Facebook page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: You can go to the LRN, which is Lenawee Recovery Network page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: You can go to lenrecovery.org.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: And then you just scroll down to, you know, find a social event and it’s right there.

Kathy Williams: Well, and the other thing is too, is that, you know, if you’re not a night person, you have other things going on.

Dawn Finney: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: You know, they can reach out at any time and find out other things that are available at Pathways.

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. It’s on the website. You can reach out. We are open every night from 8:00 pm till 8:30 in the morning. We are kind of there when other places aren’t open.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Dawn Finney: We, we realize that, you know, not everybody has emergencies or needs to talk from nine to five.

Kathy Williams: Exactly, exactly.

Dawn Finney: So life happens and we’re there.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Well, and originally Pathways was just on the weekends, but now it’s during the week as well.

Dawn Finney: Yes, it is. Yeah.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. So is it just for people that are going through the issues or is it for their helpers as well?

Dawn Finney: Their helpers can definitely come and get information as far as like how to help and stuff. We also do distribute Narcan.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: You know, if you, a family member, or friends, if you have fears of an overdose happening or anything, just, you know, come on in and we can give you Narcan. We can teach you how to use it, and it could definitely save a life.

Kathy Williams: Oh, for sure. I mean, you, you hear more and more about how many lives, just having it available, are saved.

Dawn Finney: Oh, absolutely, yes.

Kathy Williams: So, it, it’s not a, a stigma to be prepared. It’s…

Dawn Finney: Right, right.

Kathy Williams: You know, it’s not saying that I know somebody who’s, you know, actively using. It’s, it could be a stranger that you helped save their life.

Dawn Finney: Oh yeah. I actually know somebody who does Boy Scouts and their Boy Scouts have it in their first aid kit at 12 years old just to have it. You never know.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Well, Dawn, I appreciate you coming in and talking with us and helping us learn a little bit more about the social events happening at Pathways.

Dawn Finney: Thank you for having me.

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.

Feb

2023

WLEN Interview with Families Against Narcotics Public Relations & Social Media Coordinator Ben Trevino

Show the Transcript

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Ben Trevino, and Ben is the Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator for a new group called FAN, F A N are the initials. Ben, thanks for joining us. We’re anxious to learn some more about the Families Against Narcotics group.

Ben Trevino: Yeah, Kathy, thanks for having me.

Kathy Williams: So, tell us, you know, and the group is in its infancy getting set up. Tell us what the goals and the future issues that you’re gonna be dealing with. How, how does this affect our community?

Ben Trevino: So, FAN is a nationwide network of different chapters in individual communities, and every chapter has its own stated mission and goals. But ours would be to fill in the gaps in some of the social services and figure out what exactly families need as a place to turn to first…

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: When they’re looking for help with people dealing with, drug addiction mainly, alcoholism too. And just having that resource and being able to connect them with the appropriate people for treatment.

Kathy Williams: So, would they still start at LCMHA at the Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, to get connected to FAN, or how’s that work?

Ben Trevino: Yeah, so they, they can start there and we might refer them there, but where they would really start is calling the FAN phone number, which we don’t have yet.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: We will soon, but we’ll, here or going to the fan website.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: And having that is just like, almost like calling what, what do they call it? 211.

Kathy Williams: Like 211.

Ben Trevino: Okay. So it’ll be like a 211 for drug addiction.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: So they can just turn to us and we can guide them through this landscape, which can be kind of tricky at first.

Kathy Williams: Yes. Well, there is a lot of, or there are a lot of resources in our area, but like with 211, it’s a good starting spot. So, it kind of gives you a big cafeteria choices of where do I need to go? What do I need to do?

Ben Trevino: Right.

Kathy Williams: So, FAN would be similar though for people with substance abuse issues?

Ben Trevino: Right. And then we’ll also have different programs which will implement harm reduction strategies.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: So, things have been shaping up differently, I guess over the past 50 years. We kind of fought a war on drugs and drugs won that war. So, we can congratulate them now.

Kathy Williams: Yeah.

Ben Trevino: You know, the, the idea was to lock everyone up and you know, it, it was so bad that even when they are locked up in prison, they’re still doing drugs. Like everything is just a wash and, and drugs. So, instead of locking people up, we’re looking for different alternatives that we can give, that we can reduce the harm that addicts are doing to themselves and to the broader society.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Ben Trevino: While driving engagement. So, seeing them more often as opposed to just when they come to the emergency room.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Ben Trevino: And being able to use those program to get them into treatment, just like a, a funnel them into the places where we need them. As opposed to waiting for them to get locked up or to, you know, show up to the emergency room with a, with a, you know, potential overdose or some other life-threatening thing.

Kathy Williams: Right. Or a court order for to participate in different things.

Ben Trevino: Right.

Kathy Williams: So you’ll, you’ll be able to better connect and walk beside them then to kind of help them navigate how to not relapse. And will they also help them to navigate how to go through detox and that kind of thing? Or where’s that line gonna be?

Ben Trevino: Right. So that will be more with the providers.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: The treatment providers. And we have a network, not locally, but maybe that’s something in the future, I don’t know.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: But you know, sort of in our adjacent counties, Washtenaw and Monroe, that we can refer people to. And then once they’re out of treatment, out of that residential setting…

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: Then they’re back with us and we can refer them to the safe spaces like Pathways Engagement Center.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: Or CMH or InterConnections. These places where we know that they can go for support and just about any time that they need to.

Kathy Williams: Well, I’m the board president for Neighbors of Hope, and we have our men’s center, which should be opened up again soon. But we also have a women’s and children’s homeless center. And we take in homeless people who have struggled with addiction after they’ve been through their detox to give them that extra help that they need. So, this will be a great resource for, for groups like that as well.

Ben Trevino: Right. And part of that broader mission is making that allyship with all the different community partners. And right now, now that we’ve formed the Board as the first step, we have people from all different professions, you know, the police, the fire, the EMS, the legal, judicial system, the medical professionals, people in social services, former addicts, people with families of former addicts and all, everything, like it’s a broad spectrum of people from all different areas. And we’re looking to partner with just about anyone that can help us serve these broader goals.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that’s a great idea too, because then you’re, you’re not out to duplicate services. You’re out to help streamline the services to the people that actually need them at the time they need them.

Ben Trevino: Forming connections. Yeah. Yeah. And, and filling in the gaps.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Well, Ben, you know, in the process you’re putting up a website and I’m sure you’ll have a Facebook and a phone number and all that stuff. But in the meantime, for our listeners to be able to send some information to you, how can they do that?

Ben Trevino: So yeah, we are in the process of setting up a Facebook group, a website on the national FAN site, and probably some other social media presences. But in the, in the meantime, if people want more information or just to offer some feedback about what they think would be pertinent to our mission and goals, they can contact me. And my email address is BTrevino, so that’s the letter B, and then T R E V I N O at L C M H A.org. That stands for Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority.

Kathy Williams: Well, Ben, I look forward to having you back on, you know, at some future date to get an update of how things have transpired and how effective the group is working within our community.

Ben Trevino: Yeah, I’d love to come back when we’re closer to launch.

Kathy Williams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Ben.

Dec

2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese & Community Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Program Manager for Pathways, and Dawn Finney, who is the new Community Outreach Coordinator for Pathways. Ladies, thank you for coming in and talking to us today.

Kellie Niese: Hi Kathy. It’s always nice to be in to talk to you.

Dawn Finney: Thanks for having us.

Kathy Williams: So, one of the things that we want to highlight today is the new Lenawee Recovery Network. Kellie, can you tell us a little bit about how that got started?

Kellie Niese: Yeah. So, out of the Lenawee County Prevention Coalition, we formed a work group specifically looking at what resources are in Lenawee County for substance use disorder or for people that suffer from addiction from substances and we realized there’s not really one place that people can go to get those resources or an easy place to go.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Kellie Niese: So we created a website called the Lenawee Recovery Network. You’ll probably hear us call it LRN to be easier.

Kathy Williams: Okay, right.

Kellie Niese: And it is really a website that has all of the resources in Lenawee County that someone might need that suffers from substance use disorders. So, housing help, transportation assistance, and connection to peers at Pathways Engagement Center. So it’s a really cool resource that we just developed here for our community.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, when they go to the Lenawee Recovery Network site, what kind of things are they gonna find there?

Dawn Finney: Well, we have our Peer Profiles. You get to read a story about each of our peers and see who you could possibly be talking to. The phone number to reach Pathways is there. You’re also going to be able to see the times for our SMART meetings. You’ll be able to see, you know, we give out Narcan freely to anybody who needs it, and there’s just a lot of information that you can, you can gain. There’s also some nice YouTube videos up there talking about harm reduction and just some education that I think that os really nice for people to see and understand.

Kathy Williams: You know, I love a site like that too, because not just the person going through the issues, but their family members and their support people can also go on there and maybe get some good ideas on how to help the individual.

Dawn Finney: Oh yeah. You can learn a lot from it.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. So, it’s Lenawee Recovery Network. On Facebook?

Kellie Niese: Well, it’s its own website so you can…

Kathy Williams: Oh, it is its own… Not, it is not Facebook then?

Kellie Niese: Well, I mean, I put a link on the Pathways Engagement Center page, a QR code, so people can head over to the Pathways page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Kellie Niese: And they can scan that QR code and get right on the website. Or you can just search “Lenawee Recovery Network” and hopefully it will come up in your search.

Kathy Williams: Is it a “ dot com” or a…?

Kellie Niese: Just Lenawee Recovery Network?

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go. Alright. So, we make it easy!

Kellie Niese: We make it that easy, but mostly we’re handing out, Dawn’s job will be to go out into the community and offer a lot of resources to organizations and our community partners about the website. And in those resources will be QR codes that people can easily scan and get onto the website. It’s a really new project. So, the… one of the things that I also wanna highlight on there that’s near and dear to my heart, I think what’s great about the LRN is that you can go there and find hope and find out that you’re not alone, which is an important message. And so on this website is a memorial page or “In Memorium” page for families affected by substance use disorder to express the loss of their loved ones and how that’s impacted them and share that with our community. You’ll see my memorial in there to my sister, and I’m hoping that more people will share and we can send that message that this is a battle we can fight together and that you’re not alone.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, you would be interested then in going to speak in front of service organizations, classrooms, any kind of other groups in our community that would be interested in finding out more information then?

Dawn Finney: Oh, absolutely.

Kathy Williams: What would be the best way for them to contact you then?

Dawn Finney: You can actually get ahold of me through the Facebook page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: Or through the LRN website. You can get a hold of me.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, thank you, ladies, so much for coming in and getting us a little bit more acquainted with the Lenawee Recovery Network. We hope you have great success with it.

Kellie Niese: Well, thank you so much for having us and at the end of the day, if anyone’s in crisis or needs help, they can also reach out to Lenawee Community Mental Health, anytime 24 hours a day: (517) 263-8905

Kathy Williams: Thanks, Kelly.

Nov

2022

WLEN Interview with Cradle to Career Director Tim Kelly

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Tim Kelly. And Tim and I are going to be talking about the results of the Drug Take-Back event that just happened a couple weeks ago, Tim.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Out at Hickman Hospital, we had a 10:00 to 2:00 event, and had a number of people dropping stuff off to get rid of their old medicines.

Kathy Williams: Yep. You know, it was interesting that, let’s see, we started this a year ago. We had a April, October last year. We had a April this year, and now the October 30th this year for drug take-backs. And it, the amount of donations at all of them has really been eye opening.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. It’s amazing to think that in one day, you can get over or close to 300 pounds of medication dropped off in just that short period of time.

Kathy Williams: So I think the word is finally getting out about safe disposal and getting these out of harm’s way basically because we are seeing more and more statistics that say that family members and, you know, possibly just acquaintances are misusing other people’s medications.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. I think that’s one of the biggest messages is that you know, kids are exposed or have the opportunity by going to somebody else’s medicine cabinet or drawer in a house someplace and obtaining these medicines that have been recognized as leading to people with addictions. So…

Kathy Williams: Yes.

Tim Kelly: So that’s really been the message for the last few years and it seems to be working.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, I think so too. And I know, you know, it’s been a tough message to get out there. People were used to just throwing things away in the trash cans or flushing them down the toilets, you know, and things like that. And, you know, getting them to say it’s just a little out of your way, maybe to do some storage or drop them off quicker at the different locations, pharmacies and such. But the drug take back events really brought this all to the surface better.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned it’s been the last couple years and that you know, obviously after COVID we weren’t doing much until then, but after COVID we had our first one and we had 471 pounds worth of things returned at that time.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Tim Kelly: And it’s, the number’s actually gone down a little bit each year since then, or each event since then. But I look at that as being a good thing. Just like you mentioned, the word is getting out there and people are taking stuff in throughout the year. As they recognize it, looks like they’re taking it to their local law enforcement agency or to the pharmacy and dropping things off. So it’s about messaging, but yeah, we like to have the big numbers of, you know, like this year we had 293 pounds worth of medications dropped off on that one day.

Kathy Williams: Yeah.

Tim Kelly: So it’s good in both regards, you know. We’re getting the message out and they’re taking it to the pharmacies, the hospital or to the local law enforcement, but there is that opportunity in April and October every year moving forward, we’ll be having one.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. It also, I think, is an opportunity to encourage people to learn more about drug abuse and the potential dangers that are involved in all of it.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. People need to understand that these are harmful medications. If you’re not prescribed them and you get access to them, they can interact with other meds people are on. So… and they become, when they are expired, they can become dangerous to somebody.

Kathy Williams: Right, right. Well, and because your medications change, maybe the new one you’re on, you shouldn’t be taking that old one you were on because the complications that can, you know, drug interaction complications. Tim Kelly: Yeah, and I know as you get older sometimes you can get confused about those things. So if you have a family member that’s a little bit older and maybe, you know, might have a series of medications…

Kathy Williams: Cognitive problems.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, if they’re not really clear on what they should be taking, it’s best just to get that stuff that’s old and counteractive to some other medication out of their house.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Yep. Get it out of there. So, Tim, we talk about that they can go to DrugPreventionLenawee.com of course, and get additional information. A lot’s with the Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, of course, they’re, you know, big time involved in this.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. If you go to DrugFreeLenawee, that’s the website, just type in “Drug Free Lenawee”, you’ll find a list of all the places they can take certain medications, either it be pills or liquids, or even sharps, which is the needles that we seem to be getting a lot of those and that’s a good thing we get them out of there cuz they can be dangerous to have around. But yeah, if you go to those websites, they can pretty much tell you just about any place to take them to throughout the year.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Throughout the year. And if you do decide you want to find out more, definitely go to that website. There are some different things like Deterra bags that help with dissolving things, and I believe all the locations, a lot of the drop off locations are listed on there.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Kathy Williams: So, Tim, approximately 125 people, 293 pounds of goodies. So the lower participation, lots more product.

Tim Kelly: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: So we are getting that message out there.

Tim Kelly: Yep. I need to take a second just to thank all the people that helped with this because…

Kathy Williams: Sure.

Tim Kelly: You know, those pharmacy students that come up here from the University of Toledo, they work all day long sorting those meds and making sure they’re disposed of correctly. Our sheriff’s office, who has two deputies there, so they participate in it. We have a number of people like Hospice that puts together the goodie bags that we gave out. Let’s see, McDonald’s, it gives us things for those goodie bags and, you know, the Health Department and some of our local partners around the Veterans Administration. Matt Raad did a great job in providing us things and participating in this work. So we just want to say thanks to them for everything they’ve done.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. It just comes back to that it takes a village.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. It has been really rewarding to see how many people help out to get this done.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Exactly. Well, thanks for all you do, Tim. We really appreciate you as well.

Tim Kelly: Oh, thank you.

Sep

2022

WLEN Interview with Cradle to Career Director Tim Kelly

Show the Transcript

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a diverse group of dedicated community members united around the goal of reducing substance use in Lenawee County. LSAPC members work collaboratively to engage and educate the community in order to promote a healthy Lenawee.

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams. And with me on tonight’s program is Tim Kelly. Tim works at the Lenawee Intermediate School District, LISD. He is also the chair of the Prevention and Education committee for the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Tim, lots of acronyms there.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. That’s, we know who we are.

Kathy Williams: We know who we are. There we go. So we want to talk a little bit tonight about a, is it a statistical evaluation that they do for kids? The back to school MiPHY?

Tim Kelly: Yeah. The MiPHY

Kathy Williams: Yes.

Tim Kelly: Is a survey that’s done each year with students. It’s voluntary. It’s done with seventh, ninth and 11th graders.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Tim Kelly: And it kind of focuses all over the place of attitudes about things like substance use, how they feel about their community, their family, school, sexual behaviors, violence, and just general health too. So it’s a very broad- based set of questions. There’s many questions by the way. But this past year we had 700 plus middle schoolers take it.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Tim Kelly: And over 1200 ninth and 11th graders took it.

Kathy Williams: Now, is this just in Lenawee County? Is this a whole state?

Tim Kelly: The numbers I’ll be talking about are just Lenawee County.

Kathy Williams: Okay. That’s good.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, but the, it is offered at any school throughout the state.

Kathy Williams: So because the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is, you know, and our task is to find out what’s in the mind of our students and how are they being exposed so that we can gear our prevention and our education more direct to them basically, you know. So, what kind of information did they find out by the latest survey then?

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Well, let me, let me start with middle schoolers because I found that most interesting that a lot of things that maybe in the past might have been something that was significant for high schoolers has now seemed to move down to middle schoolers. So, it is encouraging though, because the attitudes that are reflected in all the statistics kind of show that kids are not thinking about using substances like they used to.

Kathy Williams: Okay. So maybe some of the education is working.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. They seem to be, I don’t want to say smarter about it, but they they’re wiser and they understand it. They know that, you know, what is good and bad. But you know, they understand that marijuana is now legal and they do view that a little bit different than what they did in the past surveys. But you know, the attitudes now are that, you know, we are going choose not to use, you know, our friends don’t use, my family may not be using, people I’m around may not be using, so I’m not going to use.

Kathy Williams: Okay. Well, that’s definitely a turn in the right direction. Especially with so much going on with overdoses.

Tim Kelly: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: And maybe the future education should be pinpointed even to grade school kids.

Tim Kelly: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: To help them make that determination before they even get to the middle school age. What did you find out then?

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Well. they, as I said, they view marijuana as differently as what they did in the past. Something that’s unique, but it’s kind of backwards to what we think, but there’s less parents talking to their kids about drugs.

Kathy Williams: Oh.

Tim Kelly: So their education may be coming from different sources.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Tim Kelly: They don’t really talk amongst their peers; cause there’s a question about “how many of you have you had a best friend that’s committed not to use drugs in the last year?” and that number’s gone down since the last survey was done. So you know, and that just means kids are educating themselves and they’re finding the resources. What I feel is probably the most thing, most important thing, and you even mentioned it with the younger kids, is we need to prevent this. You know, it’s one thing to say “we’re going to stop kids from using drugs” once they start using them, we can identify that. We want to prevent it.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Tim Kelly: So what do you do? We recognize that, you know, the more parental involvement, the parents need to talk to their kids about using drugs. Even people in a neighborhood, an adult that they connect to, somebody they have a relationship with is telling them “you know, this isn’t good for you”.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Tim Kelly: And those peers, if their peers are saying, “you know, we’re not going to do these things,” including vaping.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Tim Kelly: Which is something that’s been big lately. That number even seems to be going down in Lenawee County, so.

Kathy Williams: Well, and do you feel like the choice, consequences is coming in at all? I mean, are we teaching our kids that all the choices you make have consequences and are you prepared to pay the consequence for bad decisions? And maybe we need to go back to the fried egg commercial where your brain on drugs or whatever.

Tim Kelly: Well, I think they’re, you know, again, they are learning that. You know, they’re learning that they don’t want to use drugs. Maybe they’re seeing it in the news. They see, obviously see on social media…

Kathy Williams: Oh, for sure.

Tim Kelly: A great deal. So, messaging’s working.

Kathy Williams: Okay. Was there any other big revelations that came out of the latest survey?

Tim Kelly: I’m trying to think. I would, kind of an aside to a couple of these things, I think the most difficult things that’s come out of both the surveys for the middle schoolers and the high schoolers, is that with middle schoolers, there’s a lot more online, I’ll call it online bullying, but is things like spreading rumors and making threats, that number has just doubled.

Kathy Williams: Skyrocketed.

Tim Kelly: In the last couple years. Maybe a product of them being at home more. But it is a drastic increase of that with middle schoolers. So parents need to, you know, pay attention to that. Within with high school, this is not surprising. There has been more mental health issues. You know, we have more than 25% of our kids reporting that they are depressed. And that’s not a number we want to have of our kids.

Kathy Williams: Right. Tim, if our listeners want to find out more about the survey and the results, is there a resource they can go to for that?

Tim Kelly: Drug Free Lenawee…

Tim Kelly: Is our website and pretty much you can link from there to just about any type of resource you’re looking for.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Tim Kelly: So, I would, I direct most people there because it, it is just a good starting point and something you can come back to locally whenever you need to.

Kathy Williams: Well, and I think, you know, if they’re leading a group or anything, if they’re interested in guest speakers to come in and talk there, there’s plenty of people out in the community that would be more than willing to come in and help: you know, go over some of these issues in a classroom setting.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. I, you know, we recently had the Day of HOPE and there was a number of speakers there. Again, you can ask through the LSAPC, you can find on our website through Drug Free Lenawee, you can find many people that would be willing to speak everything from someone in recovery to a doctor or somebody that would come in and talk about what those drugs can do to somebody.

Kathy Williams: Thanks so much, Tim. We appreciate the information and encourage our listeners to find out more.

Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. New messages air on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:15 p.m. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the audio tab on WLEN.com and listen and gather more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.