Webinar to Equip Providers with Tools to Empower Parents in Preventing Adolescent Opioid Use
7/11/2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2024
Contact: Lisa Batitto, news@drugfreenj.org
Webinar to Equip Providers with Tools to Empower Parents in Preventing Adolescent Opioid Use
MILLBURN – The seventh webinar in the 2024 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series will teach healthcare practitioners and the general public how to communicate with and guide parents in preventing their children from experimenting with substances. This educational event, a collaboration of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), the Office of Alternative and Community Responses (OACR), and the Opioid Education Foundation of America (OEFA), is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 25.
The webinar, titled “Empowering Parents in Prevention & Recovery,” will feature expert discussions on guiding parents to prevent children's substance use, safe storage and disposal of medicine, optimal treatment interventions for adolescents, and recognizing signs of substance use in children and adolescents.
Speakers for this session include Dr. Melissa Wallach, the director of medical education for the St. George’s University Medical School Program and director of quality improvement of the pediatric primary care practices at Hackensack Meridian Health, and Lissette Lester, the deputy director of case practice in New Jersey for the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
"Empowering healthcare providers and others involved in children’s health and safety with the knowledge and tools to support parents in preventing and addressing adolescent substance use is crucial," said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ. "This webinar aims to enhance the capabilities of providers to foster healthier and safer environments for our youth."
PDFNJ hosts the series in collaboration with OEFA and OACR, which was formed in March 2024 in an effort to coordinate the law enforcement and public health response to the intersecting public health crises of substance use and mental health (including the work of the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies “NJ CARES”), across the Department of Law and Public Safety and throughout the state.
The Learning Series has grown each year since it was created in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with attendance reaching nearly 10,000 in 2023. Participants have learned from experts from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise, including representatives of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the New Jersey Department of Health, the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as many universities and state and local organizations involved in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Speakers have included New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Regional Director Dr. Dara Kass and award-winning author Sam Quinones.
The series is a branch of PDFNJ’s Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day statewide initiative, which has been held annually on October 6 since 2016 to educate residents and prescribers on the risks of prescription opioids and to raise awareness of the opioid crisis throughout the state.
To learn more about Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day and for a schedule of webinars, please visit knockoutday.drugfreenj.org
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Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication. To date, more than $200 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jersey’s history. Since its inception the Partnership has garnered 226 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.