Substance Free Coalition

Here’s to a school year filled with joy, growth, and good health! 🌟📘

Youth and Edibles: What You Need to Know

It's that time of year again! We are looking forward to all of our upcoming events and outreach!

Make sure you get some self-care in this weekend! 🥰

As the school year approaches, we want to remind everyone why we're here and that we welcome all!

Mark your calendars!
**The next SFC Meeting is Wednesday, August 21st @ 9 am**
If you are interested in attending, please message me for more details!

We are excited to announce the new director of the Substance Free Coalition, Lindsey!

Lindsey has been working in the OPWDD & Mental Health field for the last decade while obtaining her Master of Social Work. During this time, Lindsey has been working in a variety of roles in the health field, which have allowed her to engage with the community in order to empower individuals to be an advocate for their own health and mental health. Prior to joining our team, she worked as a Clinical Crisis Coordinator, providing clinical assessments and crisis management assistance while educating and training families, schools, residential facilities, day habs and hospitals in Western NY and the surrounding areas. Throughout Lindsey's professional experience she has remained passionate and committed to providing adolescents and their families the highest standard of care health and keeping the community informed, so they feel confident in making the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones. Her commitment for providing adolescents and their families the skills, tools, and resources they need has brought her here to KED and the Substance Free Coalition, where she is excited to be out in the community to continue her passions. She is most excited to be engaging with the community, especially youths and parents, to help reshape the stigma around substance use through educational community connections. Outside of work, Lindsey enjoys spending her time hiking, traveling and spending time with her family and friends.

It's YOUR life! Take control and take action for a better you!

Happy Monday! Today has the potential to be a great day!

Take some time for yourself this weekend!

Go out of your way to make someone smile today! 😀

Building resilience improves mental well-being and enhances coping skills. Resilient individuals have the tools to manage stress!

Make some time for yourself this week! 🥰

It’s important to know the facts about substance use so that we can work to eliminate the stigma around it and empower individuals to seek treatment.

Be your own gardener, watering yourself with care to blossom and grow.

Give yourself a break today and find something positive to do instead!

Keeping our community informed is our best line of defense against substance use!

Celebrating the land of the free and the home of the brave! Our office is closed today.

"Unexpected human kindness is the most powerful, least costly and underrated agent of human change." -Bob Kerrey

If you or someone in your life needs support, Call 988. For more resources, visit www.substancefreecoalition.org/resources

Despite your bad days, you are loved, and you make the world a better place just by being who you are.

Remember, parents typically have a large influence on youth deciding to underage drink or not.

Take a few minutes this weekend to ask a friend, family member, neighbor, classmate, co-worker, etc. how they are doing!

Juneteenth marks the day all enslaved people were made aware of their liberation. As much as it celebrates freedom, it's also an opportunity to reflect on how we can move forward.

The first step in reducing substance misuse is acknowledging that it is happening in our community.

We had lots of fun with our friends at ITAC and everyone who attended!

Although Meghan will be missed, we are happy to introduce our new SFC Director!

Angie is excited to be the new director for the Substance Free Coalition. Angie was most recently a Face-to-Face program specialist at Kids Escaping Drugs where she worked alongside other Face2Face staff to provide education and outreach to local youth in Western NY.

Angie received her bachelor’s degree in Community Health and Health Behavior from SUNY Potsdam in 2019 and proceeded to work as an intern at SUNY Systems Administration under the director of SUNY Student Wellness. Since then, she has worked a variety of roles that have allowed her to engage with community members and work to improve health outcomes. Prior to KED Angie has worked at The New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Buffalo State University, and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. Throughout her educational and professional experience, Angie has remained committed to providing students and young people with accurate and culturally competent health information, so they feel empowered to make well informed decisions. She will be working alongside other Face2Face staff to provide education and outreach to local youth in Western NY.

Her passion for providing youth and young people the skills and tools they need to make well-informed health choices has brought her here to KED and the Substance Free Coalition where she is excited to continue this work. She is thrilled to be able to engage with students and coalition members to educate youth and parents to rethink the stigma around substance use through meaningful community connections.

Outside of work Angie enjoys spending her time in nature with friends, cooking, and her sweet cat, Fish.

It is important to keep medications in a secure location and/or safely discard them.

Find dropbox locations at https://www.wnycdc.com/erie-county-locations.html

Students tend to think all of their peers v**e and that may influence their choice to v**e. Take a closer look at the CLYDE Survey data, most don't.