South County Prevention Coalition
Charlestown • Richmond • Hopkinton • Narragansett • New Shoreham • North Kingstown • South Kingstown • Westerly
Find your town’s coalition below!
Our Mission
Empower all residents to nurture their mental wellbeing and achieve positive health outcomes through education and connection.
Our Vision
We envision a community where all residents are equipped with the knowledge, support systems, and resources to lead healthy lives.
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Our Roots
In 2008, a passionate group of Chariho Middle School students set forth to create a group of like minded peers to address substance misuse and mental health – we began our journey as the Chariho Youth Task Force. In 2018, the Chariho Youth Task Force merged forces with the Chariho Tri-Town Task Force on Substance Abuse Prevention and we formalized as a 501©3 nonprofit. During our first decade we worked to change the culture around tobacco use within Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond and on a state level, we honored victims of drunk driving to strive toward a zero fatality Rhode Island, we educated our community of the effects of substance use and work to influence safer medication storage in homes, we are leading a regional movement toward a focus on positive mental health and coping strategies, we launched the Every Body is Beautiful campaign and published a children’s book to change the culture around body positivity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, due to increased need we doubled down on expanding our impact. We launched a mental health resource initiative that connected 45,000 Washington and Kent County residents to crisis-based, local, and preventative resources. We built out our team and hired a Community Health Worker who worked to connect the most vulnerable residents of all ages around to resources to assist with food insecurity, housing, and healthcare.
In October 2023, after fifteen years of growing to meet the needs of our community we officially rebranded our organization as the Wellbeing Collaborative and have set out to connect people and nurture wellbeing in Charlestown, Hopkinton, Richmond and Westerly, Rhode Island.
Looking to get involved or receive more resources? Contact us today!
Daniel Fitzgerald, MPH, ICPS |He, Him, His|
Executive Director, Wellbeing Collaborative
Email: [email protected]
wellbeingcollab.org |Wellbeing Collab Facebook Page |401-556-9603| @wellbeingcollab
Narragansett Prevention and Wellness (NPW) is a committed to improving the health and well-being of all Narragansett community members by developing and implementing programs and strategies that support a healthy and safe environment. NPW’s members include a broad base of constituencies and community partners.
Kelly Cartwright, JD |She, Her, Hers|
Coordinator, Narragansett Prevention and Wellness
Email: [email protected]
NPW Facebook Page |401-741-5209
The North Kingstown prevention coalition is committed to providing educational services and resources to the town through forums such as the school district, the community center, marketplaces, restaurants, and many more. In the coming years, we hope to make our information and resources more readily available to the public, in hopes of reaching a larger audience. We meet the third Wednesday of each month. Meeting time varies.
Kayla Van Gorden, B.A. in Communication & Elementary Education |She, Her, Hers|
Coordinator, North Kingstown Prevention Coalition
Email: [email protected]
South Kingstown Prevention, originally known as South Kingstown Partnership for Prevention, aims to lead South Kingstown in substance use prevention by using multiple strategies and resources in collaboration with all sectors of the community. SKP is funded by Rhode Island Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals (BHDDH). The Coalition strives to build a healthier community in which the use of substances will be reduced through healthy alternatives, activities and education. Our coalition meets last Friday of the month from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM.
Sue Barrett |She, Her, Hers|
Coordinator, South Kingstown Prevention Coalition
[email protected]|401-573-0363
Check Out this Interactive Tool to Learn More About What We Do!
Programs
Incredible Years
Kent County and South County Regional Prevention Coalitions are currently recruiting parents/caregivers of elementary school students for The Incredible Years School Age Parenting Program. The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program is being planned for mid-2024. This project is supported by a grant from the RI Foundation in partnership with EOHHS. These programs are FREE and all session materials and activities (books, games, crafts) are provided. The Incredible Years is an evidence-based program for parents, teachers, and children. The goals of the program include strengthening parent-child interactions, building positive relationships, supporting positive parenting, promoting children’s social, emotional and academic successes and improving classroom management skills. To learn more about The Incredible Years or to indicate your interest in an upcoming group, please click the links below.
Learn how early interventions can aid children cope better during their childhood and help them grow into happy, well-adjusted adults. Click the button below to read the blog!
Learn more about the Incredible Years series of early interventions.
Click the button below to watch the overview.
Interested in signing up for the Incredible Years Program? Click the button below to enroll in the upcoming group!
Learn More About the Parenting Group Series Below!
PAWSitive Playbook
Meet PAWS, the guide to this PAWSitively great activity book! This elementary-aged book promotes healthy lifestyles and substance use prevention strategies while having the young ones complete fun activities such as mazes, word search, and coloring! Check out the playbook with your kids and “pause” to get to know yourself a little better!
Teen World
Congratulations Parents! You successfully made it through your child’s early formative years. But, hold on… welcome to the TEEN YEARS!! These 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 created this booklet with you in mind.
Raising Healthy Teens Newsletter
Raising Healthy Teens is a full-time job and we hope our newsletter helps to make that job a bit easier. In each issue you’ll find expert advice on adolescent development, trends that pose risks to a teen’s health and safety, and helpful how-to information for parents, teachers and everyone in the community who works with teens.
If you have any topics you’d like to see covered in our newsletter, please let us know. Send your ideas — or comments to your local coordinator found on our home page. We’d love to hear from you.
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. Usually we set this up in the school during Open Houses, but during COVID we have created a virtual version that you can do at home!
Simply click on the picture of the bedroom below to explore this educational tool. Move your mouse around the room to “find” the items hidden in the room.
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.
As parents, we are the number one tool against substance use! Download the Hidden in Plain Sight Booklet
Partnerships for Success
Kent County and South County Regional Prevention Coalitions were thrilled to be awarded the Partnerships for Success (PFS) grant during the fall of 2018. This is a 5-year grant.
With this grant we will be able to identify factors within all high need RI PFS communities in our regions that contribute to underage drinking among individuals aged 12-20 and any required capacity building activities necessary to address the contributing factors identified.
We have developed community-level strategic plans addressing the factors that contribute to underage drinking with special attention to populations that may experience health disparities.
The implementation plan details how funds will be used to address underage drinking among the targeted population(s).
We will evaluate the impact of evidence-based interventions as well as capacity building community activities including:
· Alcohol Prevention Educational strategies addressing underage drinking in schools and the community.
· Environmental Strategies addressing social and retail access.
· Public Awareness Campaigns and local events.
· Workplace Interventions aimed at employers of 18-20-year old’s that fit the culture and context of their community.
Simple Questions & Straight Answers on Alcohol Prevention
Project Sticker Shock
Project Sticker Shock is a community awareness campaign designed to increase visibility of and compliance with Rhode Island underage drinking laws and discourage people over the age of 21 to provide alcohol to minors. Also, warning that the liquor stores are responsible and will ID everyone to keep anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing alcohol or using a fake ID. Project Sticker Shock provides an opportunity to work with local liquor stores to enforce these two laws. This campaign is implemented into 13 liquor stores around South County twice a year.
What is Media Ready?
Click below to learn more about the program!
Contact Us
Regional Director
Heidi Driscoll, M.Ed, ACPS
[email protected]
Partnerships for Success
State Opioid Response
Grant Manager
Lily O’Toole, BS, CPS
[email protected]
Incredible Years
Grant Manager
Lori Ann Hiener
[email protected]
Eliminating Tobacco Disparities
Grant Manager
Natalie Kimmerlein
[email protected]
Monthly Meetings
Our Community Partners
These are all of our community partners! We are very thankful to have them work with us in what we do. Click the button below each partner to view their website.