Youth leaders Chahat Kalia, Keysha Saint-Cyr, Merbensdjina Jean Paul, and McKayla Hahn share why their work with Somerville Positive Forces (SPF) matters to them – Slide from SCAP Annual Meeting

By Maile Blume

Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP), a community-based coalition working to reduce substance misuse among the city’s youth, celebrated achievements the group has made over the past year, during their annual Zoom meeting last Thursday. Some of the achievements the coalition celebrated include conducting trainings on preventing drug overdoses, distributing Narcan throughout the city, developing youth led projects in Somerville’s schools to prevent vaping and other substance misuse, and providing supports rather than punishments for students who are found vaping or misusing other substances.

Matthew Mitchell, the Prevention Services Manager for the city, said, “Prevention is all about meeting people where they’re at, literally. This includes low-threshold, more equitable access to services and educational materials, as well as providing information on harm-reduction and addressing stigma.”

Lily Dolyak, the Substance Misuse Prevention Coordinator for the Somerville Public School System, said in a video shared during the meeting that one of the programs that the Somerville school system piloted this year is an “alternative to suspension” program that provides educational programming rather than suspension to students who are found misusing substances in school settings.

The program is based in a restorative approach, and includes two tiers: first, a requirement that students who are referred to the program attend a two-hour long educational session on substance misuse; secondly, a requirement that students who are referred back to the program attend four, weekly educational sessions, including ongoing check-ins with program staff.

Mitchell said on the topic of prevention: “It’s important for us to invest in opportunities to provide prevention programming, interventions, and strategies that promote accurate and reliable information to allow individuals of all ages to make informed decisions that work for them.”

During the meeting, students from Somerville Positive Forces (SPF), a youth leadership group supported by SCAP, led a game of trivia to educate attendees on student health data. The questions were based on the most recent Student Health Survey conducted within Somerville High School and Full Circle High School.

Some of the results on substance misuse that the youth leaders highlighted are that 60% of students surveyed said that vapes are easy and accessible to obtain (although 90% reported that they do not vape), and that female students reported using alcohol at a higher rate than male or non-binary and gender-nonconforming students, yet reported the lowest rate of receiving support for substance misuse.

The youth leaders also educated attendees on results pertaining to students’ mental health, including that 53% of students reported experiencing anxiety for greater than two weeks, 32% of students reported experiencing depression in the last 12 months, 30% of students witnessed bullying in the last 12 months (with multi-racial students reporting the highest rate), 24% of students reported experiencing sexual violence in the last 12 months, and female students reported self-harm in the last 30 days at a rate of 2.5 times that of male students.

The students then shared the projects that they created and implemented over the past year to support their communities in preventing substance misuse. Some of the student led projects included designing stickers and distributing them on 3,000+ paper bags to remind adults not to purchase alcohol for people who are underage, meeting with legislators, a campaign to educate Somerville students on the fact that most students do not vape (despite there being a misperception that most do), and a photography project to call for change around youth substance misuse. The photography project, “Photovoice”, will be available for viewing at the Somerville Youth Center throughout the summer.

Director of SCAP, Lovelee Heller-Bottari, concluded the event by celebrating all of the youth leaders for their energy, dedication, and efforts this year, and said they are “an outstanding group of young leaders”. The attendees took a moment to recognize each of the leaders for their contributions to preventing substance misuse in Somerville schools. Heller-Bottari addressed the youth leaders: “Your work is really inspiring and essential to our community, and it’s really been such a pleasure working with all of you and seeing what you’ve accomplished. I look forward to all of the many, wonderful things you’ll do in the future.”