Community Prevention & 
Wellness Initiative

Bingen, WA (October 12, 2021) - The writing was on the wall in 2019, before COVID-19. Klickitat County youth knew. Students shared with community adults that mental health was a primary concern that affected their lives at the Key Leader Event, held in September in Bingen.

Fast forward to 2021. How are students coping in this new world where the pandemic has become the norm? What support mechanisms are in place to support them and prevent them from using substances to dull their pain and make life bearable?

 

A new prevention program has been established for students in the White Salmon Valley School District to focus resources on their needs. The Community Prevention & Wellness Initiative (CPWI) grant was awarded under the Klickitat Community Link Project (K-Link) at the beginning of the school year to reduce substance use among youth.

 

That is a big task. It requires a coalition of youth and adults representing the community to create effective strategies that positively impact young people to make healthy choices in their lives.

 

Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP) hired Kristen McReath to build this new CPWI coalition and coordinate the two-year grant to lead this effort. Education Support District 112 (ESD112) hired Michelle Ward as her counterpart. Ward is a student assistance professional directly supporting youth within the school system.

 

It all came about from a relationship between K-Link, WAGAP, and ESD112. 

 

"The people in these organizations are really passionate about making sure people in the community get what they need, and everybody is taken care of," said McReath. She brings to her new position an education in community organizing, nonprofit leadership, and global health and experience in community health and prevention. 

 

McReath has worked in East Africa in Kenya for schools focusing on public health and for both the Hood River and White Salmon school districts on public health and youth development. Most recently, she worked for WAGAP as part of the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program.

 

With a continued focus on youth prevention programs, WAGAP now manages the new CPWI grant in White Salmon, the existing CPWI grant in Goldendale, which partners with the Coalition for Preventing Abuse in Klickitat County(CPAKC), and the DFC grant supporting the Our Klickitat Prevention Coalition, which covers the entire county. 

 

Another CPWI grant supports the Klickitat-Lyle community and partners with the Klickitat-Lyle Against Substance Abuse Coalition (KLASAC). These CPWI grants are part of the Washington State Health Care Authority, Division of Behavioral Health & Recovery, Substance Use Disorder Prevention Program.

 

McReath is hitting the ground running. She has already attended training through CADCA, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, and is planning strategies and beginning to build a coalition in the White Salmon School District. 

 

 "She's worked with coalitions before, and leading a coalition takes a specific skill set. With any coalition that gets started, there is always excitement at the beginning. You need someone on the ground to keep it going," said Paul Lindberg of McReath's new role. Lindberg is a Collective Impact Health Specialist and the Project Coordinator for K-Link. 

 

During this time of social distancing, McReath wants to implement activities that make the most sense but focus on youth, their safety, and their success in life. The first major activity is Medication Take Back Day, scheduled for October 23, 2021. The goal is to provide a safe, convenient and responsible way to dispose of prescription drugs and help keep them out of children's hands. McReath said the new coalition is bringing attention to mail-in options and the work of Skyline Health and Hi-School Pharmacy in White Salmon, which both provide year-round drop boxes for unused medicine.

 

The annual Key Leader Event is back this year on Friday, December 10, 2021, from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. and will be held virtually.  Following the 2020 cancelation due to COVID-19 restrictions, McReath is working with the other coalitions in Klickitat County to organize an effective session. They want to make sure youth and adults across Klickitat County have that structured time together to focus on youth needs, develop strategies to improve conditions and prevent young people from turning to substances. 

 

Community members interested in the new CPWI prevention coalition in the White Salmon area are welcome to learn more about this grassroots organization that seeks to improve young people's lives. For more information, email kristen@wagap.org or call WAGAP at (509) 493-2662.