Prevention
The ADM Board believes that prevention, early intervention, and health promotion across the lifespan stops or reduces the impact of mental health disorders and/or substance use disorders.
Youth Risk Behavior Survey
The ADM Board partners with the Summit County Health District to work with Case Western Reserve University to conduct the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) every 5 years.
The survey results are used as a baseline measurement that informs initiatives funded by both the ADM Board and the Health District to address identified areas of concern.
The YRBS provides data on health risk behaviors for students in the United States, including behaviors that contribute to injuries and violence; substance use; sexual risk; unhealthy approaches to diet; and physical inactivity.
The ADM Board and its partners will begin in 2024 with the most recent survey.
Early Childhood
The ADM Board funds programs aimed at giving Summit County youth the best possible start in life.
The Incredible Years: This program offers a variety of evidence-based early intervention programs for parents, educators, counselors, and other professionals who work with children ages 0-12. To learn more about The Incredible Years program, visit here.
Child Guidance and Family Solutions offers The Incredible Years program as part of the ADM Board’s focus on early childhood prevention. The parent, teacher, and child social skills training programs help to ensure that parents and infants form strong bonds. It also works to help parents learn and practice parenting skills and support toddlers and preschoolers with early onset conduct problems.
Toddlers and PreSchoolers Succeeding (TAPS): TAPS serves preschools, childcare centers, and Head Start programs by focusing on the emotional and social needs of children from birth to age 6 and those that care for them.
The TAPS program prepares children for school and later success by equipping them with the skills to follow directions and stay on task, communicate well, develop positive relationships with other children and adults, and feel good about themselves.
School Age
The ADM Board supports multiple programs in area schools aimed at promoting social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making; improving self-esteem and competency development; and enhancing teacher training to detect and appropriately respond to problems.
PAX Good Behavior Game: The PAX Good Behavior Game is a universal-level classroom-based behavior management strategy for elementary school, which is designed to prevent disruptive behavior. It teaches children to work together for common goals and to focus on a positive future they co-create with others.
It has been implemented across diverse school settings and has been shown to increase academic engagement, reduce disruptive behavior, and reduce the later development of conduct disorder, substance use, and suicidal ideation.
PAX teaches students self-regulation, self-control, and self-management in the context of working with others and has been proven to improve attention and reduce impulsivity. It is based on multiple classroom and teacher studies in the US, Canada, and Europe and has been referred to as one of the most effective strategies a teacher can use in his/her/their classroom to increase lifetime academic success and to protect children from lifetime emotional or behavioral disorders.
Youth-Led Prevention: Youth-led activities identify young people who are respected by their peers and trains them to recognize when peers are struggling. These young people are taught how to reach out and refer their peers to the appropriate adults and services.
Youth-led prevention engages young people with these cornerstones–peer-to-peer, community service, and positive youth development.
Current youth-led prevention programs through the ADM Board’s system of care include the following examples:
- CHC Addition Youth-to-Youth Prevention https://chcaddiction.org/prevention-programs/youthtoyouth/
- Akron UMADAOP Youth Programs https://www.akronumadaop.com/youth-programs
- Alliance for Health Youth Programs https://all4youth.org/our-programs/
iCare Mentoring: https://www.icarementoring.org/ The iCare Mentoring program pairs adult mentors with youth in primary and secondary schools. Mentors meet regularly with students, helping them to develop positive relationships, work on goal setting, and reinforce positive academic and social behaviors.
This program is administered through Red Oak Behavioral Health.
Additional Prevention Resources for Clinicians
Additional Prevention Resources for Clinicians
- Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board
- Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OHMHAS)
- Ohio Prevention Professionals Association (OPPA)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)
- Center For Disease Control (CDC) Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention