Foundation recently awarded the Osage County Anti-Drug Community Action Team (OC-ADCAT) $9,900 to assist with the Teen Mental Health First Aid program. The OC-ADCAT program will be presented at Linn, Fatima, and Chamois high schools to train students in teen mental health first aid. In 2024, program participants will be sophomores and seniors but will eventually include all Osage County high school students.

Teen Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based program developed in Australia in 2015. The program teaches young people how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance abuse challenges among their friends and other youths. The program does not teach to diagnose; instead, it provides information about being supportive and encouraging friends to seek help when it’s needed.

OC-ADCAT was established in 2015 with the mission of helping youth make positive decisions regarding youth substance abuse. The group works to decrease substance abuse in adults and prevent substance abuse in youth through community education, policy creation and implementation, prevention programming, community education, parental outreach, and various environmental methods to reduce youth access to alcohol and other substances. The focus of the coalition is to educate youth about the dangers of alcohol and the vaping of nicotine.

More information about OC-ADCAT can be obtained by email at OCAntiDrugTeam@gmail.com.

Information on the Foundation can be found at www.threeriverselectric.com/program-information.