Iowa State University opioid prevention workshop drew 120 community leaders from 30 Iowa counties
Iowa community leaders gathered in Ames on Wednesday to develop knowledge tools and networks that will help prevent opioid misuse at a workshop hosted by Iowa State University PROSPER Rx. Photo by Ryan Riley
Participants were equipped with community toolkits to assist them in reaching various age groups with substance misuse prevention programming. The workshop was hosted by the Iowa State University PROSPER Rx project and supported by a Rural Health and Safety Education grant from the USDA’s National Institute on Food and Agriculture as well as the Midwest Counterdrug Training Center.
“PROSPER” stands for “PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience,” an evidence-based prevention model developed at Iowa State that has been shown to lower rates of substance misuse – including misuse of prescription opioids – among rural youth and young adults.
The PROSPER delivery system links the USDA Extension and Outreach System with public schools and community-based teams to impact risk and protective factors known to influence substance abuse.
Building capacity to combat and prevent opioid misuse is an aim of the PROSPER Rx project at Iowa State, directed by Lisa Schainker, a scientist at the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute in the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State. The project is helping community partners build networks — and will provide coaching support to increase the capacity of Extension and Outreach professionals to build and maintain community prevention systems to combat the opioid epidemic.
Key contacts:
Lisa Schainker, scientist at the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State University, director of the PROSPER Rx project, 515-296-8387, lschain@iastate.edu.
Jan Monahan, extension specialist in Human Sciences Extension and Outreach, 712-336-3488, jmonahan@iastate.edu.
Barbara Wollan, extension specialist in Human Sciences Extension and Outreach, 515-832-9597, bwollan@iastate.edu.
Joyce Lash, extension specialist in Human Sciences Extension and Outreach, 641-872-1755, lash@iastate.edu.
Linda Cline, Webster County Extension program coordinator/PROSPER Team Leader, Iowa State University, 515-576-2119, lcline@iastate.edu.
Laura Beyenhof, Lyon County Extension program coordinator/PROSPER Team Leader, Iowa State University, 712-472-2576, beyenhof@iastate.edu