Kent County Prevention Coalition
Coventry • East Greenwich • Exeter West Greenwich • Warwick • West Warwick
About Us
The Kent Prevention Coalition’s mission is to build a healthier community by preventing and reducing harmful substance use behaviors in Kent County, focusing on youth. The vision is to promote a healthier community for all by developing a substance abuse prevention system that fills gaps in services, prioritizes resources and reduces overlap.
We have incredibly committed members representing youth, parents, schools, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Law enforcement, Rotary, healthcare providers and more! Together we work to put in place evidence based programs and policies to help prevent and reduce youth substance use.
Programs
Building Connections! - Podcast
When COVID 19 arrived prevented us from meeting in person, the coalitions quickly leaned into creative and innovative ways to get our messaging to parents and partners. We also knew how important connection is for all of us. So, we relied on the technology at hand and began what we thought might be a brief placeholder – a podcast. We check in weekly with our prevention partners to see how they continued to deliver services. Over a year later, we continue to host a weekly interview. We have listened, learned, and laughed with so many wonderful and wise colleagues. Our gratitude is too deep to express for the opportunity to work with such amazing individuals. The field of prevention is rich with talented, dedicated and committed folks who are working incredibly hard to make a difference in our communities.
Now that we are emerging from COVID (thankfully!!) we are now calling this new project, Building Connections. This will be a chance to continue to shine the light on all of the amazing prevention work taking place in RI! Thanks for listening!
New Episode:
Hidden In Plain Sight!
Hidden in Plain Sight allows parents a unique interactive opportunity to look into a teen’s mock bedroom. The room is full of common household items that could be used to hide or disguise drug, alcohol, tobacco use or other “risky” behaviors.
Please take the time to talk to your teen about the items you see – use this as a way to launch a conversation about substance use among peers. Check it out here!
Congratulations Parents! You’ve survived all those 2am feedings, toddler temper tantrums, the “I’m not eating THAT” and “you’re not wearing THAT” battles. So why does the word “teenager” cause you so much worry?
The teen years are a period of intense growth, not only physically but emotionally and intellectually. So it’s completely understandable that, at times, parents may have feelings of confusion, frustration and sometimes being overwhelmed.
We have created this guide to help ease you through this time! Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Raising Healthy Teens - Newsletter
Media!
Talk Early. Talk Often and Listen.
It could be as simple as talking early and talking often. The campaign is organized to educate and empower parents and caregivers to have ongoing conversations with the young people in their lives around drugs and alcohol.
Thanks to Dr. Paul Mangino, Jr, his daughter Sofia, Maureen Gouveia and Izzy Boullier – all coalition members! Credit to SkySabin productions
#Stay In Your Lane!
Our Coventry Task Force Leaders, Dana Daverna and Katelyn Bianco, worked to create this amazing PSA reminding youth about the risks of impaired driving.
Big shout out to the cool folks at Gnarly Bay! for this gem!
A fun reminder of the importance of getting medicines out of the home!
Find a list of participating police stations here.
Mental Health Resources
We have created a Linktree that contains school and local resources regarding mental health found within Kent County and the state. Check it out!
Contact Us
Regional Director
Kathy Sullivan
ksullivan@risas.org
Partnership for Success
Cyndi Rego
crego@@risas.org
Our Community Coalitions
