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Visit CATS at Derryfest on September 19th at McGregor Park.
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Please bring your used cartridges to Derryfest and put a drop in the bucket for CATS!
Know What to do About the Flu
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| Special section on planning for families!
Save the Date!
CATS Annual Awareness Walk in Derry will be held Saturday,
October 24th.
Current News
Read these news stories bookmarked on CATS delicious.
Get Involved!
1. Can you spare one or two hours a month to serve as a member of an advisory committee?
2. Have you invited a friend to join SHN? pledge form
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Safe Homes & Communities
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FOR TEEN SAFETY
August 2009
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MaryAnn and Steve Davis.Photo by John Wilcox (Boston Herald). Read story "Parents in Action".
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Dear Friends of the CATS Community,
 Welcome to the trial issue of Safe Homes & Communities, a monthly newsletter produced by CATS. This newsletter is modeled on our existing Safe Homes News for parents belonging to our Safe Homes Network. The first official Safe Homes & Communities will be distributed in September, but we wanted to take the opportunity to share the current newsletter content with everyone.
Please send your comments and suggestions for the newsletter to info@catsnh.org.
There is new research constantly being conducted in the field of prevention. The on-going collection of data is an important element in effective research and can help identify new trends or other issues that affect the health and safety of youth and families. The CATS staff attends workshops and conferences to stay informed and to network with and learn from the many other prevention coalitions across the country.
At the end of July, I attended a national conference sponsored by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). This conference attracts a diverse group of participants with some attending from Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean. The conference theme was "Creating a Rock Solid Coalition Infrastructure." What's a coalition? At its heart, a coalition - or alliance - or network is a group of individuals and organizations that come together and agree to work together to achieve common goals. CATS continues to work with individuals and organizations in the greater Derry area to promote safe habits for all youth by increasing awareness of high-risk behaviors and encouraging healthy choices. I came away from the conference with new tools, resources and information that we will be sharing with you over the next months. One tool to keep an eye out for is the development of social media and networking options for members of the CATS community.
Paula and I have also recently attended several local workshops and trainings that will enhance our ability to share with you, our members, and the community we serve some exciting new programs and strategies to help make our community a safer one. The most recent workshop we attended was sponsored by the NH Training Institute on Addictive Disorders and featured the nationally recognized prevention expert Dr. Dennis Embry. Please read the article entitled "Simple Gifts" in this newsletter to learn more about his work.
If there is a topic or issue that you would like to know more about please let us know. We our committed to keeping you better informed - your input is important to us! We encourage you to check out the links we provide and to share them with your friends and colleagues. Thank you for your commitment!
Best regards,
Sue Centner, Director
Contact Us
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NIDA Goes Back to School
A service of the national Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services.
The NIDA
Goes Back to School campaign is your source for free information
about the latest science-based drug abuse publications. Go to http://backtoschool.drugabuse.gov/
Students, do you need to know the science behind drug abuse? Check out
this site and visit NIDA's special teen site, teens.drugabuse.gov.
Parents, NIDA provides the latest research findings on drug abuse and addiction.
The fact sheets and booklets appearing here
will give you the data based on science.
In addition, NIDA recently adapted several of our science education publications
for Spanish-speaking audiences. These free Spanish-language materials are now available on our site.
Finally, feel free to subscribe to the NIDA
Goes Back to School listserv to receive e-mail updates about our new publications, news, and events.
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Do You Know About 211?
Changing the Way New Hampshire Finds Help
 2-1-1
is an easy to remember telephone number that connects callers, at no
cost, to information about critical health and human services available
in their community
2-1-1 NH is an initiative
led by United Ways of New Hampshire (UWNH), an organization that
represents the 10 United Ways across the state, in partnership with the
State of New Hampshire, Citizens Bank Foundation, the New Hampshire
Charitable Foundation, Exeter Hospital, and Public Service of New
Hampshire (PSNH).
Residents in New Hampshire can contact 2-1-1 NH toll-free by dialing 2-1-1 in state or 1-866-444-4211 from out of state or visit their website at http://www.211nh.org/.
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Parents in Action
Tailgating was Ticket to Tragedy
By Peter Gelzinas, Boston Herald, 8/14/09
Steve Davis will drive to Gillette Stadium tomorrow morning - but not to see Kenny Chesney headline the New England Country Music Festival.
What this Milton father will do instead is haunt the surrounding parking lots with a sign that he hopes will shame local police, along with the rent-a-cop force, into clamping down on hundreds of tailgating teens destined to be part of a huge, open-air booze fest.
The way Steve Davis sees it, if another father had been moved to do the same thing one year ago, maybe Davis' 20-year-old daughter, Debra, would be alive today.
Steve and MaryAnn Davis assumed their daughter had tickets when she told them she was attending the "Countryfest" concert with friends. When the police called in the wee hours of that weekend one year ago to say that Debra had been killed, along with her 19-year-old friend, Alexa Latteo, who was behind the wheel, Steve and his wife learned neither girl had tickets to the concert.
The girls had driven to a parking lot in the shadow of Gillette Stadium to join scores of other Milton teens in what amounted to a day of unrestrained drinking.
"All they had to do was pay the $40 to park the car," MaryAnn Davis said. "If anyone asked to see a ticket, the kids were told to say they were picking up at the will-call window. And they could drink and party or, excuse me, tailgate with their friends all day in the hot sun."
The Davises could have marked this excruciating anniversary by withdrawing into themselves and shutting the rest of the world out. "Nothing Steve or I will do can bring Deb back to us, we know that," MaryAnn said. "I might not have been able to prevent what happened to my daughter, but I have to try and make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to another family.
"I had no idea these kids had been texting each other for weeks and months ahead of time," she said, "planning where they would meet, which parking lot their friends were going to gather in. It never occurred to me that I needed to ask my daughter to show me her ticket. But that's exactly what parents need to do. If your child can't show you a ticket, don't let them go.
If Steve and MaryAnn have no choice but to live under the crushing weight of responsibility and regret, what about those parking-lot hucksters at Gillette Stadium? Shouldn't they be compelled to make sure that "tailgaters" who show up hours before a concert (a) have a ticket and (b) are old enough to drink?
Or does a $40 parking fee absolve you of all responsibility?
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Under Your Influence
Under Your Influence is a new Internet resource focusing on empowering parents to influence their teen drivers to drive safely. Visit www.underyourinfluence.org for more information and to sign up for a monthly newsletter.
Distracted Driving: A Risk Not Worth TakingVirginia
Tech study confirms texting while driving is a huge
risk. The results of the National
Youth Traffic Safety Month survey that was sponsored by The Allstate
Foundation indicated that although youth realize it is dangerous - they still text and drive. The survey indicated:
- Teens rank texting and talking on a cell phone among most dangerous risks.
- Compared to other dangerous driving situations teens indicated they feel texting is only second to the danger of driving on icy roads yet the majority admit to taking these preventable risks.
- 68% of teens admit to texting while driving, but only 21% reported that they were confident in their driving ability while texting.
The Virginia Tech study found texting while driving increases the risk of a
crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists
taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or
listening on their cell phones.
Dialing a cell phone and using or reaching for an electronic device
increased risk of collision about 6 times in cars and trucks. Right before a crash or near collision, drivers spent nearly five
seconds looking at their devices, which was enough time at 55 mph to
cover more than the length of a football field.
Read more about this ground-breaking study by clicking here.
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Simple Gifts Initiative
Prevention for everyone
Low-Cost Population-Level Prevention to Save Our Children
Every month, trusted scientific journals publish studies about low-cost or no-cost preventive strategies. These strategies are scientifically known as behavioral kernels. They can dramatically reduce or prevent the burden of many afflictions harming our children, youth and adults. They can improve everyone's well-being. The Simple Gifts Initiative™ is about spreading kernels all across the world. Here's why.
In a time of diminishing prevention resources, employing these low-cost or no-cost strategies for all groups, neighborhoods or communities is the best approach to prevention both politically and morally.
With Prevention for Everyone,
- health-care costs can be contained
- community safety can be improved
- more children will do well in school
- America can compete better in the global economy
- and the future will be healthier for all generations
What are Kernels? Kernels are smallest unit of scientifically proven methods to influence behavior. There are over 50 no-cost or low-cost evidence based kernels already documented. The list is growing as scientists understand this break-through in thinking. Kernels should be known and used as soon as possible in every American community.
Learn more by visiting http://paxis.org/content/SimpleGifts.aspx.
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OpEd: Beginning of End for Treatment Facilities
Letter to the Editor, SeacoastOnline, 8/14/09
It was sad to learn this week that OdysseyNH, formerly Odyssey House, a residential substance abuse treatment facility for adolescents in Hampton, is closing its doors for good.
To our minds, there is a desperate shortage of residential facilities for the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse in this state, and a particular need for facilities that focus on young people caught in the cycle of parental neglect and/or substance abuse.
OdysseyNH was the first such facility to be established in New Hampshire. It's first location was in the huge, multi-room building located at 30 Winnacunnet Road, which opened in 1970.
There were many years the building was filled almost to overflowing with young people getting 24/7 treatment from a staff of counselors, teachers and physicians. Courts began sending teens for whom the only other option was prison, and the organization began to expand.
The Blue Heron Inn on Landing Road was purchased as a group home for individuals who did not need the kind of intensive treatment available at the Adolescent Treatment Center on Winnacunnet Road, but whose substance abuse demons prevented them from returning fully to mainstream society.
In 2007, the Odyssey Foundation, which owns all the property utilized by OdysseyNH, purchased a former church on High Street and opened "Recovery High School." It was a location where teen clients could receive an education without coming into contact with the drug and alcohol issues sadly so prevalent in the state's regular schools.
The reasons given for its demise are financial issues resulting from fewer clients and a shift in the state's approach to supplying the services the organization provided in a residential setting.
The latter is of more concern to us than the former. In this economic climate, we can certainly understand why fewer clients would opt for a relatively expensive form of treatment involving all the costs associated with living full-time in a facility.
However, we do not believe the state's desire to use existing community services, such as Seacoast Mental Health, to meet the needs of teens struggling to free themselves from addictions - and the behavioral problems in which that results - can adequately address the problems they face.
While there were issues involving teens walking away from the OdysseyNH facilities in Hampton, the majority of the youngsters in those locations received full-time attention in a controlled and supportive environment. Putting them back into the same situations in which their addictions flourished and supplying only outpatient services can in no way match what was being done for them in the Odyssey environment.
While it is true that OdysseyNH dealt primarily with drug and alcohol issues, while teen addicts face a number of other problems as well, including parental conflicts and, often, legal concerns, we don't think any group of providers that supply services on an out-patient basis can effectively address all these issues, either.
Our real concern is that the state's decision to suspend funding for Odyssey House, as well as the Chase Home in Portsmouth, spells the beginning of the end for teen residential facilities in New Hampshire and the vital services they provide.
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Community Alliance for Teen Safety is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Our
mission is to promote safe habits for all youth by increasing awareness
of high-risk behaviors, encouraging healthy choices, and fostering
community alliances in Chester, Derry, Hampstead, Londonderry, Salem
and Windham.
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