The ABCs of Youth Substance Use
Who is this community for?
Health and allied professionals who support K–12 schools in preventing, delaying, and reducing substance-related harms, and in promoting youth wellbeing.
This includes:
-
Staff working in youth mental health or substance use
-
Health workers engaged with school-aged youth
-
Health professionals supporting school- or district-based staff
(e.g., Health Promoting Schools teams)
What's in it for you?
The focus of the Community of Practice (CoP) is to support approaches that have been shown to be effective in preventing, delaying and reducing substance-related harms for youth.
This CoP will support your practice as you:
Connect and Collaborate
Access and Apply Knowledge
​​
-
Connect to the latest research, resources, and promising practices
-
Review comprehensive school health approaches that have improved student wellbeing in K–12 schools, with a focus on grades 6–12
Reflect and Strengthen Practice
​​
-
Share what you’ve learned, ask questions, and improve understanding
-
Foster culturally safe, gender-inclusive, trauma-informed, strengths-based practices
What should you expect?
The CoP provides a one-hour virtual space to share practices and resources that support a comprehensive school health approach to youth substance use.
​
Each session is participant-driven, giving you the chance to share your experiences, ask questions, and gain insights from others in the field.
​
Sessions are co-led by experienced facilitators and include access to web-based resources, drawing on decades of expertise in school-based health and substance-use initiatives.
Meet Your Facilitators
Sessions will be led by Cindy Andrew and Art Steinmann, with occasional support from other members of the project team.
Cindy Andrew (she/her)
Senior Associate, K-12 Health Promotion
BUNYAAD Public Affairs
Art Steinmann (he/him)
Senior Associate, Substance Use Health Promotion Specialist