INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- The Collegiate Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership for Success (C-SPF-PFS) initiative is a five-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant designed to enhance prevention infrastructure in Southern West Virginia.
The overall goal of the project is to enhance prevention infrastructure and build capacity among higher education institutions in Southern West Virginia in order to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of alcohol, tobacco and vaping, marijuana, and prescription drug misuse and its related problems among higher education students (18 and older).
National Prevention Week, which is being observed this week, is an annual health observance dedicated to increasing public awareness of and action around mental health and/or substance use disorders. Each day of the week has a focus on major substance use and mental health topics.
At West Virginia State University (WVSU), Kellie Toledo, director of counseling services, is the campus champion for the C-SPF-PFS Project.
“National Prevention Week is an opportunity for us to continue to provide education and raise awareness about the resources available to our students and campus community about substance use prevention and the importance of good mental health,” Toledo said.
Brianna Moore, a rising senior studying Secondary English Education, is the student leader for C-SPF-PFS.
“To truly ‘prevent’ we musn’t wait for substance abuse or mental health crises to begin; we must act to prevent them from beginning,” Moore said.
In 2016, West Virginia had the highest drug-overdose rates in America at 52 deaths per 100,000 people. This number is nearly 163% higher than the national average. Through projects like C-SPF-PFS and events like National Prevention Week, we hope to reduce these statistics and the lives lost.
The C-SPF-PFS is funded through a SAMHSA PFS grant through the Marshall University Research Corporation Center of Excellence for Recovery. For more information about the C-SPF-PFS, please visit
https://www.marshall.edu/coefr/c-spf-pfs/. To view information provided by student leaders for National Prevention Week please visit
www.instagram.com/c.spf.pfs or
https://www.facebook.com/c.spf.pfs.
For more information about National Prevention Week, visit
https://www.samhsa.gov/prevention-week.
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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.