Working for healthy youth

The Sky Valley Drug Free Communities Coalition has been revived after a nearly four-year hiatus.

The plan outlined in their mission statement is, “To reduce the negative impacts of drugs and alcohol in the Sky Valley, especially among the youth,” said Calei Vaughn, executive director for Volunteers of America Western Washington’s Sky Valley Integrated Service Center.

“I think it is going to pull us together in a lot of ways,” Vaughn said. “I really hope we get the participation. That is something we struggled with in east county for a long time. What we really need now is participation. A two-hour commitment per month is all we are looking for.”

Everyone is invited to attend the meetings, Vaughn said. More voices mean more representation and more ideas that will be placed on the table, Vaughn said. Additionally, to be considered an official coalition, community members from 12 different local industries must attend each monthly meeting. The large base will help secure federal grant funds, which will be applied for next spring, she said.

The coalition met last Tuesday, April 25, to go over Washington’s 2016 Healthy Youth Survey. The study is conducted each year by state government agencies, including the Office of the Superintendent of Instruction, Department of Social and Health Service’s Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, and the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

The bullet points centered on responses from Sultan School District students, which includes the communities of Index, Startup, Gold Bar and other unincorporated areas.

Statistics on mental health were tackled first.

While sifting through the results, Vaughn found almost two-thirds of local students surveyed say they feel alone in life. The trend shows an annual 5 percent increase in the perspective each year from 2012-2016, she said.

Two-fifths of Sultan school district students in one age group report they had depressive feelings in the past 12 months, while less than one-third of their peers statewide expressed the same. Nearly one-third of local students in another age group say they seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, while about one-sixth of their peers statewide contemplated the same.

Sultan City Councilmember Joe Neigel said mental health disorders are among the many risk factors that might contribute to substance abuse in youth. He said prevalent attitudes can also be a potential indicator.

According to the survey, one in three children believe underage drinking is acceptable to adults, Neigel said. Dispelling that attitude through education and communication between the age groups could act as a deterrent, he said. 

Sultan students are generally on par with their peers statewide, “which isn’t good, but not anywhere exponentially higher,” in their use of drugs and alcohol, Vaughn said.

Neigel and Vaughn stressed the importance of youth having healthy relationships with healthy adults. Neigel said in one age group about 50 percent of local students say they are often sworn at, insulted or humiliated by their parents, which is one of four indicators that may lead to other adverse or unhealthy experiences, such as suicide, substance abuse, or dropping out of school. Others include witnessing domestic violence and experiencing sexual and/or physical abuse during childhood.

In school, many students in one age group said their teachers wouldn’t intervene in a situation where they are being bullied. One in three of those students said they feel staff would try to step in or stop bullying, compared with more than half of their peers statewide.

“One kid being bullied is one too many in my opinion, but this is something that concerns me,” Vaughn said. “And I am in no way trying to say this is a school problem; this is a community problem.”

Sultan eighth-grader Jordan McNew said she felt that school employees’ involvement in bullying incidents has declined. She also said she doesn’t feel staff takes reports “as seriously as they do at other schools do,” and that cases can occur for stretches before they are addressed.

Everyone in the community plays a role in addressing these issues, Neigel said.

“We are still trying to pull an overall story out of the data,” he said. “One of the really consistent themes is that even though we know our children are hurting, we know we can do things to fix that.” 

Sky Valley Visitors Center president Debbie Copple said sitting down for dinner is a positive activity children and adults can take part in. She said it doesn’t need to be with a biological parent, just someone who can help create a safe space for the interaction.

Copple also said it would help for parents to teach their children how to effectively handle confrontation; to know the difference between bad manners and bullying, and to give them the skills to resolve conflict in a healthy way.

The coalition will use the findings from the survey as a foundation to structure the programs that will be developed to erode the proliferation of substance abuse in the community, Vaughn said. She is currently in the middle of writing up a two-year strategic plan, which is the next time the impact of the coalition’s strategies will be measured, she said.

Neigel will continue to be a key ally for Sultan’s coalition, Vaughn said. The VOA also just hired Ruth Shapovalov as coordinator for the developing Youth Coalition, and who will also develop a best-practice model mentorship program, she said.

The next meeting will be held 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, at the Mountainview Church in Sultan. The 2015 documentary, “Paper Tigers,” which illustrates the role an adult plays in youth overcoming adverse childhood experiences, will be shown during the gathering.