Thanks to a significant decision made by Monroe Community Coalition Coordinator Joe Neigel, Monroe's grassroots drug and alcohol prevention group will be able to continue moving forward without having to undergo a transition in leadership.
The coalition is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and wellness of the Monroe community by reducing underage drinking and substance use. The goal of the coalition is to utilize evidence-based prevention strategies to identify risk factors that are conducive to alcohol and substance use, and then work preemptively to diminish those risks.
"Our focus is on reducing or reversing the risk factors that science says predict future substance use, and then building protective factors that can mitigate against the risk our kids are experiencing,GÇ¥ Neigel said.
Funded through the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery's (DBHR) Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative (CPWI), the Monroe coalition was founded in July of 2013. CPWI coalitions are funded with both state and federal grant money, which is managed by a local fiscal agent GÇô typically a government agency such as a county government or educational district.
Since the coalition's inception, the role of the fiscal agent has been filled by Snohomish County, which fulfilled the financial criteria stipulated by the CPWI. The county also deployed long-time drug and alcohol prevention specialist Neigel to serve as the group's leader. As a county employee, Neigel, a Sky Valley native, would often be deployed into different communities that were in crisis.
"My role for the last five years really has been damage control,GÇ¥ Neigel said. "I go into communities, build them to health, and then I get reassigned.GÇ¥
In March, when the county announced its decision to forgo its role as the fiscal agent, Neigel was saddened, since it meant that he would have to step back as the coalition lead. The Monroe Coalition has been an incredibly successful model, with DBHR personnel recently acknowledging the coalition's strength, productivity and dedicated membership.
When Monroe Public Schools agreed to step in as the new fiscal agent, former superintendent Ken Hoover advocated for Neigel and the importance of securing his leadership role. As a result, Monroe Public Schools decided to offer Neigel full-time employment as the coalition coordinator.
Neigel, who worked at the county for nearly 11 years, decided to accept the district's offer of employment.
"This is my passion,GÇ¥ Neigel said. "This is a rare opportunity to stay in my field, to continue the work that I started, and to be 10 minutes from home.GÇ¥
The coalition is working to implement several new programs over the next year, and will be zeroing in on phase two of a three-phase action plan. Last month, the group discussed several different potential programs including Parenting Wisely, the PAX Good Behavior Game and the Peer Assistance and Leadership program, all of which they are hoping to incorporate into their framework of prevention strategies. A peer-assistance program that would be utilized at the high school level, the Peer Assistance and Leadership program is designed to address risk factors such as low achievement in school, failing grades, frequent absenteeism and depression.
Depression was identified by the coalition as an area of concern after data assimilated from the 2014 Healthy Youth Survey indicated that Monroe students in both the 8th and 10th grade suffer from suicidal ideation at a higher rate than elsewhere in the state. Depression levels in Monroe were comparable or lower, but suicidal consideration was up.
The PAX Good Behavior Game is a classroom-based strategy that would be used at the elementary school level. Several coalition members are hoping to target elementary school age children for specialized prevention-based tactics in hopes of establishing a strong foundation. The Good Behavior Game uses positive interventions in the classroom to encourage and increase academic success while decreasing disruptive behaviors.
Parenting Wisely targets both parents of young children and parents of teens, providing them with tools to facilitate optimal communication with their kids.
Practices from phase one of the coalition action plan will continue, including the "Talk. They Hear YouGÇ¥ campaign, which features an advertisement encouraging parents to openly communicate with their kids about drug and alcohol use. The advertisement is shown before movie previews via a contract with Galaxy Theatre.
In order to help facilitate a complete continuum of services, the coalition works collaboratively with numerous other organizations in the Monroe community, including Take the Next Step, Compass Health, the Monroe Boys and Girls Club, the local faith community, Monroe Public Schools, Sea Mar Community Health Center and more.
Whereas the coalition focuses on prevention, organizations like Sea Mar and Compass Health offer mental health services, medical care and substance abuse treatment for adults and youth. Monroe Community Coalition Chairperson Tom MacIntyre settled upon an appropriately-themed river analogy when describing the coalition's role in the community in comparison to community providers like Sea Mar and Compass.
"They're good at pulling people out of the river,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. "As a coalition, we don't pull people out of the river. Our challenge is to go up river and find out how they're getting in.GÇ¥
"We work very, very closely together, because there's a lot of them in there and they need to get out,GÇ¥ he continued. "But if we put all our energy into getting them out, we'd never solve the issue of how they are getting in.GÇ¥
Thus far, the coalition has successfully worked to change community perception that there are no serious consequences for underage drinking and drug use. Results from the 2014 Healthy Youth Survey showed other results of statistical significance including a much lower rate of parents who allowed their kids to drink alcohol at home, lower rates of youth who don't think drinking is wrong and lower rates of youth who believe that their friends engage in drinking.
The coalition typically meets at 1 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month at the Monroe Public School Administration building (200 E. Fremont St.). In September, the meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 17, so as not to conflict with the first day of school. To learn more about the Monroe Community Coalition, please visit: http://monroecommunitycoalition.com/, or the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/monroe.cc.united.
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