At the School Committee Meeting on Monday April 7 Nipmuc’s School Adjustment Counselor Nancy Fagan gave a summary of the March substance abuse forum and provided community feedback regarding the presentation.
Approximately 75-80 members of the community consisting of families, students, and school staff attended the event. The night was broken up into two sections. The first section Director of Y.O.U. Inc. Kerri McCleary, Parent Facilitator for Learn2Cope Terri Nabulsi, and Kailin Krikorian a 24-year-old recovering alcoholic and addict, presented on what drug abuse looks like, warning signs, the difference between abuse and addition, the connection between pot and addiction, treatment, and several other topics. The second session was a World Café where the community broke out into small groups for discussions.
During the World Café three questions were posed to the community.
- What was the groups reaction to the presentation, did they learn something new or were they aware of everything which was presented?
- What is working in the community and what is missing?
- What are two or three reaction steps you would like to see our community do?
A survey was sent home to all who attended the event. Below are some highlights as presented by Fagan of what was discussed the night of the World Cafe and feedback from the community.
- Increased education for parents and students at all grade levels including trends and how parents can talk to their kids
- Education on stress and stress management
- Strengthening the wellness curriculum at all levels
- Continue to provide opportunities for conversations
- Discussing the connection between pot use and other drugs – percentage of kids who see pot smoking is not an issue is extremely high throughout the state
- Community sober activities for kids and families
- Last year Chris Heron spoke and the kids are still talking about that.
- There was a lot of positive feedback on Krikorian and a lot of parents felt having someone young connect with the students would be beneficial
- Increased community and youth group options
- Community take back programs, National RX take back day – many problems with opiates start in the medicine cabinet
- Ongoing collaboration between all schools, police, etc.
- Needs for use and family services in the community, more treatment options
- A break the code campaign where students have a safe person to reach out to when someone they know is abusing drugs or they are worried about a friend
Nipmuc’s Principal Mr. Clements was not able to attend the School Committee Meeting on April 7 but in a separate interview shared he was encouraged by the attendance and thankful for the chance to come together as a community to discuss this important issue. “It was particularly helpful to have conversations with so many people about what actionable steps our communities can take to raise awareness. Moving forward, I’ll be working with our nurse and counselors in order to see how we can use some of the suggested action steps. We were very fortunate to have attendance at the forum from law enforcement, community members, parents, students, teachers and administrators; it’s important that we use what was shared in order to continue this partnership,” said Clements.
UPTON DAILY 