Welcome to AHM’s Prevention Programs!

Prevention at AHM Youth & Family Services is defined as a multifaceted approach that allows teens and adults to work towards the goal of decreasing the use of alcohol, substances, and use of vapes within the RHAM Community. 

AHM provides opportunities to RHAM Middle School and RHAM High School students, parents, and the community to get involved in positive change efforts to help move our mission forward. 

AHM Panel Discussion for Parents & Students in 6-12th Grade

*This presentation has has been rescheduled! New date TBD. Please check back again soon for updates!

Grade 6- 12 students and their parents are invited to attend a panel discussion at AHM, with specialists who will give valuable insight on “Navigating the Realities: Youth Alcohol, Vaping & Substance Use Today”. Guest speakers include: Deepa R. Camenga, MD, MHS (Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Faculty, Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, Yale School of Medicine), Megan Albanese (Tobacco Treatment Specialist, Prevention Coordinator, Town of Southington/STEPS Coalition), Officer Jay Kehoe (Director, Public Safety Town of Marlborough and AHM Juvenile Review Board Chair) and Tressa Giordana (AHM Executive Director). Deborah Lake and Jessica White of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership will moderate. Students and their parents will receive free ice cream from 6:00 – 6:20 p.m. with panel discussion from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. RSVP to jenniferb@ahmyouth.org with the number of adults and youth attending. Zoom link available upon request.

Megan Albanese

Youth Prevention Coordinator, Town of Southington. STEPS Coalition and Tobacco Treatment Specialist.

Officer Jay Kehoe

Director Public Safety, Town of Marlborough CT, and AHM Juvenile Review Board Chair

Deepa R. Camenga, MD, MHS

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Faculty, Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, Yale School of Medicine

Funded by the Local Prevention Council’s Grant.

Screenagers Movies at AHM this Fall!

Location: AHM’s Performing Arts Room
Fee: Free
Age: Grade 6+ and parents & caregivers
Time: *Doors open at 6 pm, films start at 6:30 pm.RSVP: Email jenniferb@ahmyouth.org AHM Prevention Coordinator. Free for grade 6+ and parents/caregivers. Please note the number of adults and children attending in your email.

QPR & Narcan Training

AHM will offer two more FREE QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) & Narcan Training sessions on Friday, September 22nd from 9:30-11 am, and Monday, October 16th from 5:30-7 pm.

Training will include: The Good Samaritan Law, support information and resources, and warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond. Participants will receive a QPR training booklet and a 2-dose supply of Narcan, an opioid overdose treatment.

Facilitators: Tressa Giordano & Megan Aldridge

Location: 25 Pendleton Drive, Hebron CT

National Take Back Day

AHM’s Coalition for a Healthy and Empowered Community (CHEC) in partnership with the Connecticut State Police, hosts free Take Back Events for our community members to properly dispose of old and unneeded prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and vitamins anonymously. Unused and expired prescription medications are a public safety issue. Proper disposal of unneeded drugs saves lives and protects the environment and our overall community. Start preparing for AHM’s next Take Back Event today! 

The next National Take Back Event will be on Saturday, October 28 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at RHAM High School on 85 Wall Street in Hebron. The first fifty cars to drive through will receive a free SAFE Rx locking pill bottle to keep medications safely stored! The locking pill bottles are funded by the CT Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services (DHMAS) Local Prevention Council Grant.

Past events have collected the following incredible amounts:

April 2022: 215 pounds were collected at the Hebron and Marlborough collection sites. 
Read the full press release!  

Fall 2022: 254 pounds were collected at the Hebron collection site. Read the full press release!

View Take Back pictures in the gallery on the right side of the page.  

AHM’s Prevention Coordinator:
Jennifer Boehler

Contact: 860-228-9488, x22

Email: JenniferB@ahmyouth.org

Take-Back Spring 2022 Pictures

Take Back Fall 2022 Pictures

Pictures from Coffee with a Cop!

Cocoa with a Cop!

Thank you to Georgette Goodale, owner of the Marlborough Country Bakery, for warmly welcoming AHM and Connecticut’s Law Enforcement Officers Bernier, Kehoe, Loiler, Reed and Vendrillo at Saturday’s (1/7/2023) Cocoa With A Cop event! 

It was a great morning mingling with residents of all ages getting to know our officers a little better! The huge platter of delicious chocolate chip cookies at this event was donated by Georgette and then taken back to Troop K in Colchester.

Tressa Giordano, AHM’s Executive Director, joins Cathy Osten, CT State Senator and Ana Gopoian, Founder & Executive Director of TriCircle, Inc. to discuss drug paraphernalia found in our communities. Watch the video below!

Check back soon to learn about our upcoming presentations or “Like” Andover Hebron Marlborough Youth and Family Services on Facebook to get this information on your Facebook news feed!

Coalition for a Healthy Empowered Community (CHEC) is made up of RHAM Middle School and RHAM High School administrators as well as town leaders, parents, business owners and community members, with the focus to incorporate increased community wellness with an emphasis on helping to keep youth alcohol and drug-free.

Through the dedication and work of this coalition, AHM is proud to be only one of fewer than 200 nationwide communities to be awarded a federal grant to support communities in their efforts to help combat local underage drinking, prescription drug abuse and the prevention of marijuana use. The grant award, which is for five consecutive years, is funded through the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program.

Formerly known as the AHM Substance Abuse & Violence Prevention Task Force; this group as a whole has worked together since 1986 to minimize the impact of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the regional community.

More information for committee members can be found on the CHEC Coalition page.

Parent Education Series

AHM hosted two presentations in Spring of 2022 which are available to view via Zoom recording. Each presentation is about 30 minutes in length. 

  1. Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana – presented by Rob Picone
  2. Vaping and the Risks of Using – presented by Victoria Adams
​AHM invited Ana Gopian, founder of The Paraphernalia Project to Hebron Day 2022 to share what drug paraphernalia looks like and what she found on short walks in the towns of Amston, Hebron, Marlborough and Andover.  Community members were in awe of what was found in our towns. 

The Paraphernalia Project: How Signs of Drug Use Can Be In Plain Sight

Ana Gopian, Executive Director of TriCircle Inc., founded the organization in July 2016. She has been in recovery from substance abuse since 1995 and has also had family members who struggled with it. Ana’s life mission is to share her knowledge with parents about current trends and ways to hid paraphernalia in plain sight. In addition to speaking engagements, Ana, coordinates the following groups: “Hope & Support” that provide a safe and confidential space for parents guardians and others who are concerned about a loved one’s substance use or addiction. Families are encouraged to utilize these services at no cost and “Hope After Loss” which gives a place where everyone understands. There is no judgement or blame but rather support and understanding.

AHM Youth & Family Services invited Ana Gopian to Hebron Day this past June with the only goal of sharing what Ana collected on her walks in our three towns. A huge amount of drug paraphernalia and alcohol containers were found during these walks.
 
Hebron (5/5/2022 & 6/16/2022)
  • Walk started near John E. Horton Blvd, down RT66, then a left into RT85 South and back on the other side of the street
  • London Road near Gay City State Park
  • Veteran’s Memorial Park and both sides of Wall Street in front of the school
  • Corner of Reidy Hill Road until the first telephone pole and back
Marlborough 6/16/2022
  • Walk started near coffee franchise and grocery chain with a left onto Rt 66 towards East Hampton for 2.5 tenths of a mile and back
  • Commuter parking near Exit 12 off RT2 down North Main Street 4.5 tenths of a mile and back
Andover (6/16/2022)
  • Walk started at the gas station on RT66. left out of the parking lot for 2.5 tenths of a mile and back 

Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana

Rob Picone is a graduate of the UCONN School of Pharmacy and has been a licensed Pharmacist for more than 25 years with clinical interests and expertise in substance use disorders and endocrinology, including especially Type 1 Diabetes having worked clinically both in in-patient and out-patient settings.  He is currently the Immediate Past President of the Connecticut Pharmacist Association and has presided over and sat of their Board of Directors for the past seven years.  In addition to his clinical experience, Rob holds a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology also from the University of Connecticut where he worked to elucidate the mechanisms by which marijuana interacts with its site of action in the brain.  For the past 15 years, Rob has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in various Medical Affairs capacities including clinical trial support in the development of medications for diabetes as well as addiction.  Currently, he is a Field Medical Scientist at Provention Bio, a clinical stage biotechnology start-up focusing on curing and/or delaying autoimmune diseases especially Type 1 Diabetes.

Vaping and the Risks of Using

Victoria Adams, M.Ed, NCTTP, is the Tobacco Prevention Coordinator at Southern Connecticut State University. She holds a National Certificate in Tobacco Treatment Practice and is a trained tobacco treatment specialist trainer from the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Center for Tobacco Treatment Research and Training. She provides tobacco prevention, cessation and policy work support to community organizations, schools and colleges throughout the state. She coordinates a Youth MATCH Coalition group which aims to reduce tobacco use among youth in the state. In addition, she provides tobacco cessation care to all members at SCSU. Victoria’s work is grant funded by the CT DPH and CDC.

Risks of Using Presentation

LINK to presentation
Passcode: *m=7HVy2

Past Events!

National Take-Back Day!

Thank you to RHAM High School for hosting the October 23rd event.  It was a smashing success with 380 pounds of medications being donated from the RHAM community and beyond.  A great showing of volunteers from RHAM High School, the AHM CHEC Coalition, CT State Police Troop K, SOAR Youth Group and AHM Board Members that made this event run smoothly!

Read more about National Take-Back Day!

Coffee With a Cop!

Thank you to Gina Marie’s for hosting Coffee With A Cop on Wednesday, October 20th.   Community members had an opportunity to meet Hebron’s newest resident Trooper, Officer Bryce Reed.  Many thanks for the Troop K officers who came out in force to support this community event that allows for frank conversations between residents and law enforcement!

Suicide Prevention

Through a partnership with the Jordan Porco Foundation (JPF), AHM clinical staff members will be introducing the 4 What’s Next program to high school students. 4 What’s Next is a program that builds psychological resiliency in high school students by giving them the tools to handle stress and distress now and in their future. The core of the program is the 4 What’s Next Framework, which teaches students how to effectively handle distress by “reaching in” and utilizing independent coping strategies, “reaching out” by seeking and accepting help outside of themselves, or a combination of the two. This process is followed by an assessment of how well their chosen coping method is working and encourages them to reevaluate if needed. This program is made possible through the Jordan Porco Foundation and the Benny Fund.

jordan porco foundation logo
4 whats next logo
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