Creating groups of individuals passionate about changing communities for youth and providing training on Suicide, Mental Health and Substance Use.
Preferred Family Healthcare is a designated Prevention Resource Center for universal prevention services inclusive of information, education, alternatives, community-based processes, environmental strategies, problem identification and referral, and community survey assessment and planning. The Prevention Department is comprised of three substance abuse prevention specialists who provide services to the top twenty-seven counties in Missouri (including Highway 36 all the way to the Iowa border.) Each specialist has a nine county region which makes up a service area as designated by the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Specialists remain abreast of current drug trends and are familiar with the principles of effective prevention programming. This includes but is not limited to science-based efforts and the theoretical approaches to be used such as the risk and protective factor framework. Staff embraces the five step Strategic Prevention Framework as the method by which to train teams to function most efficiently. Specialists develop an annual training and technical assistance plan for their service area by conducting assessments for each team and thereby identifying areas of need to address in the annual plan. The annual plan is then approved by the ADA. In addition, the specialists provide capacity building assistance to communities which may include things like: community assessment, community planning, community education, organizational development, consultation services, community training, legislation and policy development, environmental strategy training, identification and creation of resources, leadership development, planning and management issues, and/or board and volunteer training. In addition to assistance provide to teams, specialist are required to spearhead the annual merchant education campaign in which visits to retail tobacco outlets for the purpose of educating merchants on the state laws pertaining to the sale, possession, and use of tobacco products by youth under the age of 18 are conducted in our service area.
Preferred Family Healthcare Continually Strives to be a Dynamic, Caring Organization United to Assist Others in Achieving Their Potential.
