Tobacco Taskforce January Meeting
Join our regional Tobacco Prevention Taskforce and work together to address underage tobacco and vaping in your community! Next meeting is January 18th, 2022, 3-4pm. Register in advance here.
If you are interested in being involved with this group on our new online platform, email Alison at alison@healthylamoillevalley.org for more information.
Save the Date!
Teens and Cannabis: a look into the data on the impacts of legal retail markets on youth
January 13th, 2022, 7:00 pm, on Zoom
We are often asked, “How are youth impacted by marijuana?” We’ll seek to answer that question for the community on Thursday, 1/13 at 7:00 pm when Healthy Lamoille Valley hosts the online event: “Teens and Cannabis: a look into the data on the impacts of legal retail markets on youth.” With retail cannabis coming to our region, it’s important that we help youth, parents, and the broader community to understand the impacts of marijuana on our student populations. When we understand the impacts, we can take steps to intervene and reduce the risks for our children and youth.
Register in advance for this event here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining.
About the presenter: John S. Searles, Ph.D. was the Substance Abuse Research and Policy Analyst and Chair of the State Epidemiological Workgroup for the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs in the Vermont Department of Health. He retired in 2019. He is currently an appointed member of the legislatively mandated Substance Misuse Prevention Advisory Council and serves on the council’s Equity, Prevention, and Policy subcommittees. He has been on the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Vermont. He has co-edited two books (“Children of Alcoholics” and “Alcohol and the Family”) and published over 50 scientific articles in the substance use/abuse field. John earned his doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Searles was a major contributor to the initial marijuana legalization Health Impact Assessment published by the Vermont Department of Health in 2016, the principal author of the 2017 HIA literature review update, and an advisor for the 2020 update.
Live Your Why: Passport Edition Updates
NEW! Share Your Why: Passport Edition
With fewer in-person events happening due to Covid this month (and possibly beyond that), we have added a new way for youth to earn passport stamps!
Complete activity sheets by planning, doing, and sharing activities you do with your friends and family at home or in their community. Turn in the completed activity sheets for stamps, with the option to share their activity on our website.
For more information, including activity ideas, check out the Live Your Why: Passport Edition webpage!
Sign Up for Our New Pilot Parent/Caregiver Community!
We seek to support each other in supporting our kids/teens with action. Not a place for specific grievances. This opportunity is free. Please share with others! If you would like to be part of this community, please email Coalition Coordinator Jessica Bickford at jessica@healthylamoillevalley.org.
Wishing You Safe Celebrations
As you celebrate, please remember to monitor all alcohol, cannabis, tobacco products, and prescription medicines in your home. Monitor and lock these items to keep our kids and teens safe! This may mean assigning a responsible adult to monitor the alcohol at your gatherings. Most youth who misuse substances get them from their homes or the homes of a loved one or friend. Also remember we are their closest role models. Our kids start watching us from an early age – this includes our interactions with adult use substances such as alcohol. Ask yourself, would I be upset if my teen matures to adulthood with the same use patterns that they’ve seen me model? Want to learn more about keeping our teens drugfree? Visit parentupvt.org.
Looking for recovery opportunities as you enter the new year? Check out the many great programs that our friends at the North Central Vermont Recovery Center and Jenna’s Promise are hosting! These programs are friendly and open to all at no cost to participants or their families. Looking for help quitting nicotine in 2022? Check out our new quit help page with local classes, support groups and additional resources!
New Cannabis Resources
Our Lamoille Valley towns are all in different places related to retail cannabis at the moment. Healthy Lamoille Valley is creating resources to support you as you navigate this issue in your town. Informed communities and voters make a difference in the health and wellness of our community.
You can find information on retail cannabis and Act 164 here, including a video that addresses frequently asked questions. You can also test your knowledge on Retail Cannabis and Act 164 through this five-minute interactive quiz.
Municipal leaders can find information here, including a new printable resource containing process recommendations and data considerations.
To find out more and get involved, contact Alison Link, Policy and Outreach Coordinator at alison@healthylamoillevalley.org.
3-4-50 Grantee Project Highlights!
Congratulations to our 2021 3-4-50 HLV mini-grant awardees on their project successes! Thank you for helping to lead the way to reduce chronic disease by reducing tobacco use and increasing healthy nutrition and physical activity.
Get all the project highlights and learn more about our 3-4-50 partners and the Vermont Department of Health’s 3-4-50 program at www.healthylamoillevalley.org/3-4-50-partnerships!
Tobacco Prevention Taskforce Meeting
December 7th, 3:00 – 4:00pm
Join Healthy Lamoille Valley’s Tobacco Taskforce and work together to address underage tobacco and vaping in your community! Email Alison at alison@healthylamoillevalley.org for more information. Register in advance here.
Community Coalition Meeting – A Virtual Brown Bag Legislative Luncheon
Please join us at noon on December 1st as we meet with our local legislators. This will be a time to share successes and concerns related to substance misuse in the Lamoille Valley and for them to ask questions before they begin the legislative session in January. Please email Jessica@healthylamoillevalley.org to request your invite. This will replace our December coalition meeting.
New Parent/Caregiver Workgroup Cohort!
New Parent/Caregiver Workgroup Cohort! We are changing it up! We recognize that parents/caregivers are busy and we’d like to try a new workgroup format. Beginning in January we will host a new pilot workgroup using the Basecamp platform. We will create an online community for parents/caregivers so you can share ideas, ask questions, access resources, and work on community projects from your phone or computer on your own time! This is open to all parents, foster parents and kinship caregivers. The pilot workgroup will run January through June, 2022. If you would like to find out more or be involved, please contact Jessica Bickford at jessica@healthylamoillevalley.org.