Community Initiatives

Audience: Parents, caregivers, teachers and community members

These presentations discuss the signs and symptoms of drug abuse in our county, including the habits, language and current trends. Knowledge is a key ingredient in preventing substance misuse. Get involved reducing youth use of alcohol and other drugs in Morris County.

For school staff, NJ law 18A (law pertaining to when a student is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during school hours) is reviewed allowing teachers to understand their role and responsibility.

Audience: Parents, community, businesses

A public health media campaign designed to educate communities and parents about the health and safety risks of serving alcohol to teens using social marketing. It reinforces everyone’s responsibility to promote healthy choices in your community. Its key message reminds parents that it is unsafe, unhealthy, and unacceptable—and, in many communities, illegal—to provide alcohol for underage youth. It decreases young people’s access to alcohol by reducing the number of parents willing to provide alcohol for young people. Over time, it reduces the likelihood teens will drink alcohol and suffer the health effects that come from underage drinking.

Audience: Alcohol retailers

Sticker Shock is a project where the community, youth and alcohol retailers all work together to combat minors getting access to alcohol.  With these sectors partnering, they create a message, which is then printed onto stickers and placed on products in stores.  The messaging is geared towards adults to stop them from purchasing alcohol for minors.

Audience: Businesses

Since 2016, the Get Your I.D. Out campaign has been encouraging liquor store owners and other establishments with liquor licenses to I.D. everyone to help prevent the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages to youth. 

Active participation in this campaign will protect your business from possible penalties and fines, and  shows customers that you are committed to keeping your community- and its kids- safe and healthy.

By participating in this campaign, we will provide your establishment with an educational toolkit on effective I.D. Checks as well as I.D. checking promotional materials.

The kit contains: 

• License I.D. Guide 
• Six-Step I.D. Check Card 
• Black Light to identify a fake I.D.s  
• “Get Your I.D. Out” window sign 

We also thank all participating establishments with an article in the Daily Record and a banner on our website, showcasing their establishment and its participation in our “Get Your I.D. Out” campaign! 

To discuss in more detail and/or to tailor any of our workshops to fit your needs, please contact Patrice Reilly (973) 625-1998 for an appointment or email preilly@mcpik.org.

Audience: Morris and Passaic County youth

PEER Youth Mentoring Program (Pursuing and Engaging Empathic Relationships) is a free mentorship program for Morris and Passaic County youth (ages 11-17), who have been impacted by opioids, that is youth who:

• Currently use or have used opioids
• Are at high risk for using opioids
• Have family members who are currently using or have used opioids
• Are system involved youth and youth deferred from the juvenile justice system

The program will connect the identified youth to a support network of mentors. The mentors are comprised of PIK/CARES staff, volunteers, and community members within the Morris and Passaic County communities. The mentor-mentee match will be paired for up to one year with ongoing support and connection to PIK/CARES services and to the Program Coordinator.

Families and caretakers of the mentee will be connected to evidence-based programs, engagement as part of the program’s approach in preventing and addressing opioid use.

For more information, please contact Megan Souter at (973) 625-1998 or email msouter@mcpik.org.

Audience: Youth Athletes

As we look upstream to the many paths to addiction, a prescription for pain medication due to a sports injury can be the first step to addiction. Adolescents involved in organized sports may be more likely or at a higher risk to misuse opioid medications because of their increased risk for injury. Despite the positive benefits, young athletes gain from participating in organized sports, sports participation may actually put some adolescents at risk for substance use because of increased access to pain medications. Given the elevated risk of injury, adolescents who participate in organized sports would be more likely to have been prescribed opioid medications compared to their non-participating peers. The Tackling Opioids through Prevention for Athletes Toolkit has been developed to help support schools and communities respond to addressing this opioid epidemic among this high risk group.

Goal: The Tackling Opioids through Prevention (TOP) for Athletes toolkit is intended to help guide and raise awareness of opioid use and abuse among young student athletes and to provide evidence-based recommendations and information that will encourage and promote policy and practice changes that will strengthen schools, athletic departments and community based athletic programs

The County Coalition for Safe & Healthy Morris provides technical assistance on the use of the TOP toolkit and to learn more about trainings, resources and materials to support your efforts in implementing evidence-based programs, policies and interventions directly related to student athletes. Presentations are available to athletic directors, coaches, youth sports program administrators, and school administrators such as principals, superintendents, and boards of education who determine and administer policies within their schools or districts.