SAFE Community Newsletter: September 2021
Welcome to our SAFE Community Newsletter, a resource for local prevention information. If you would like to receive this newsletter monthly, just email Julia Mees, our Program Director, here.
Take-Back Day

Each year, the Excelsior Springs Police Department prescription drug drop-box collects over 500 lbs of medications! That's a lot of medications that are properly disposed of rather than left out in the community and potentially diverted for misuse.

How can you help support local Prescription Drug Take-Back Day efforts?

1. Clean out your medicine cabinets and take excess prescription drugs to the drop-box at ES Police Department or dispose of them at home with a safe disposal bag.

2. Help spread the word that the drop-box is open every day of the year (not just on Take-Back Day).

3. Know and share the facts about prescription drug misuse: Prescription drugs are to be taken only as directed by a physician and only by the person they are prescribed for. Sharing of prescription medications is dangerous and illegal.

4.You can distribute prescription drug disposal bags at your workplace/organization and to your friends/family. Let us know if you need some disposal bags. We're happy to deliver them to you!

Thank you for your efforts! Decreasing availability of excess prescription drugs helps prevent misuse and addiction. 70% of youth who misuse prescription drugs got them from family and friends, so this is really something we can all do to decrease availability of prescription drugs to youth in our community.
Parents! We need you!
SAFE is looking for a few local parents who would like to be part of creating our Youth Connections magazine. This is a local prevention-focused magazine for parents. You would help with choosing content and collecting local photos. You can see an example of YC here. Local content is on pages 10-13. Email us if you are interested in being on this team! The time commitment would be minimal--estimated 3-4 hours 3x/year.
Clay County Resource Guide
There is a new brochure that the DOTS program put together with input from ES Hospital, Clay County Public Health, Tri-County, SAFE, and other entities. It was created because of the need for a Clay County brochure on substance use and mental health resources. Feel free to download and disperse!
Meaningful Meals

Looking for something you can do to help prevent youth substance use in your own family? Having family meals together consistently has been shown to reduce the risk of substance use and depression and increase academic outcomes in youth. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just set a goal and go to our Parent Up Meaningful Meals page for more info and ideas!
FUSE Events
Have you seen these new events sponsored by Excelsior Springs Hospital and Excelsior Springs Community Center? Every month, there is a calendar of events focused on health and wellness and open to the public. This partnership and the new FUSE (Foster. Understand. Share. Empower.) program is fantastic for our community! Help spread the word about these events and take advantage of these opportunities to improve your health and wellness. SAFE and Tri-County Mental Health will be at the October 7th evening event on mental health.
Resilience Film
The Resilience film is now available for streaming! This is super exciting for all of us who have seen it and want to share it with others. Here's your challenge: If you haven't seen it yet, please find one hour to watch it! If you have seen it, tell someone else about it and encourage them to see it. It's truly a perspective-changer and helps us see substance use prevention through a new lens.
Action Guide Groups Starting!
The Roots of Resilience Action Guide is for small groups and individuals to use to help figure out how they can best be a part of building resilience in youth. This was created as a follow-up to viewing the Resilience film. SAFE is now starting Action Guide groups! These groups can meet via Zoom or in person. Please let Julia know if you are interested! Join us!
State Prevention Conference
The State Prevention Conference will be held virtually on November 15th-16th. We would love for you to join us! Registration is paid for by SAFE. Email Julia if you are interested in attending.
September-
Suicide Prevention Month
Encourage Hope and Help is Tri-County's youth suicide prevention resource and their website has a ton of information. Their Facebook page also has helpful info to share. These are resources for suicide prevention and mental health that you can share with your friends and family this month and throughout the year.
If you are interested in being a part of SAFE, email us for more information!