Expanding Substance Use Prevention and Early Intervention in Schools: A Toolkit

This toolkit provides information and resources to expand school-based services for substance use prevention and early intervention. The first resource offers a clear pathway for the statewide expansion of these services, drawing on lessons learned from Community Catalyst’s Power of Prevention initiative. Two resources focus on leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), including a step-by-step guide on how to build a successful campaign to do so. Other resources describe a key set of tools for early intervention called Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT); provide strategies to implement and fund this intervention in schools and clinics; and offer evidence and talking points for why this is important to help young people live healthier lives.

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Resources on Expansion Strategies and Building Advocacy Campaigns

• Winning Statewide Expansion of Universal Substance Use Prevention in Schools: A Pathway and Successful State Strategies

  This resource outlines a pathway for the statewide expansion of universal substance use prevention in schools, and is designed to support organizations with varying levels of advocacy capacity and experience. The pathway and strategies described are informed by six state advocacy campaigns that Community Catalyst has supported as part of our Power of Prevention initiative.

• Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act for Substance Use Prevention to Improve Young People’s Lives

  This tool explains how key activities and requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act can be used to expand substance use prevention and early intervention services in schools. The resource offers specific advocacy strategies to advance this work.

• Integrating Substance Use Prevention into the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Step-by-Step Guide for Advocates

  This guide is designed to help advocates build a successful issue campaign to promote the integration of substance use prevention and early intervention services into ESSA activities.

• Massachusetts Provides a Model for Addressing Students’ Risky Substance Use

  This state spotlight provides information on the 2016 Massachusetts legislation that expanded youth SBIRT to all public middle and high schools across the state.

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Advocacy Resources for Engaging Stakeholders

• Youth Substance Misuse and Academic Performance: The Case for Intervention

  This fact sheet provides an overview of the links between substance use, chronic absenteeism and academic achievement. It also offers actions schools can take to better support students and improve academic performance.

• What is Youth SBIRT?

  This one pager offers a brief overview of each component of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment.

• SBIRT Frequently Asked Questions

  This resource addresses common questions people have about SBIRT, including how the screening and brief interventions are conducted, the average number of referrals to treatment, confidentiality concerns, where SBIRT is being implemented across the county and strategies for bringing SBIRT to your community.

• Funding Youth SBIRT

  This financing guide highlights opportunities to fund SBIRT in public schools and medical settings.

• Training Resources for the Implementation of SBIRT with Young People

  This one pager highlights training opportunities and toolkits schools and organizations can use to prepare staff and providers to implement SBIRT with young people.

• The Evidence Base for school-based SBIRT

  This chart summarizes studies of the effectiveness of school-based SBIRT.