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Disclaimer

Community forums are an excellent opportunity to engage physicians and other health professionals, community organizations serving youth, schools, the juvenile justice and family court systems, parents and families, substance abuse treatment providers, the faith community, the media, and others in a dialog about how to improve alcohol and substance abuse treatment services in the community. These forums can be aired through a number of options, including your local public or commercial broadcast radio or TV stations or your local cable system. The organizing plan for community forums can be limited or broad-based. Community forums can be organized at the community, city or town, or state levels.

The primary target audiences for the September 2000 Recovery Month are:

• Health professionals who serve adolescents
• Health policymakers and insurers
• Community-based organizations serving youth
• Schools and the education community
• Juvenile justice and family court systems
• Workplace
• Parents and families

As you begin to identify panel members and forum participants for your community forum, be sure to include representatives of these sectors. Coordinate with your local public and commercial broadcast radio and television stations, or local cable system to tape and air a discussion panel about adolescent alcohol and substance abuse treatment and recovery issues in your community. This discussion should create a greater understanding on the part of viewers and listeners of the magnitude of the alcohol and substance abuse problem, identify the substance abuse treatment needs of children and adolescents, and the community’s responsibility to support its young people. The discussion should also explore ways to minimize the stigma of substance abuse treatment and recovery.

Recruit members from your community who are knowledgeable or who have an interest in adolescent alcohol and substance abuse treatment to participate in a broadcast community forum. Panel members should include health professionals, representatives from community organizations serving youth, an elected official or other policymaker, a treatment provider, and someone who has been an adolescent in recovery, if possible. Ensure that the panel is representative of your community’s cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity. Plan to have one or two people standing by in the event of any last-minute cancellation from one of the confirmed panelists.

Identify an experienced facilitator to host the session, keep the discussion focused, and make sure that all points are covered. The facilitator should read an introduction and a closing statement from the teleprompter to summarize the key points of the discussion. Make sure the facilitator’s opening and closing remarks are consistent with the messages you believe are important.

Make sure that the key points of the discussion can be covered within the timeframe allowed by the broadcast station. Meet with panelists on several occasions in advance of the broadcast to clarify the purpose of the discussion. One of the additional goals and benefits of this process is to bring together a wide range of school, business, and community leaders to brainstorm about these issues. They should have the opportunity to create their own agenda for the forum.

The community forum agenda may include the following topics:

• An overview of the extent, magnitude, and consequences of the adolescent substance abuse problem in the community.

• Identification of current substance abuse treatment efforts that are effective, and a dialog about unmet needs for substance abuse treatment and recovery.

• A discussion of "stigma" and its effect on adolescents who might otherwise seek substance abuse treatment.

• Recommendations to health professionals, community leaders, and schools on the benefits of identifying, discussing, and providing substance abuse treatment to adolescents in need.

The purpose of the forums is to raise awareness about the issues related to substance abuse treatment and Recovery Month observance activities at local, State, and regional levels. Look for community forums in the following cities:

Cincinnati, Ohio Baltimore, Maryland Miami, Florida Austin, Texas Phoenix, Arizona Memphis, Tennessee Denver, Colorado Detroit, Michigan

Raleigh, North Carolina Chicago, Illinois San Francisco, California Atlanta, Georgia Minneapolis, Minnesota Washington, DC Boston, Massachusetts Louisville, Kentucky

For more information, please contact Michele Westbrook at (301) 443-5052, or email mwestbro@samhsa.gov.