In our Town Hall Meeting and Community Discussion, the Scott County EMPOWER Youth Coalition explored youth alcohol use in Indiana and Scott County, as well as premiered our 5 brand new films on youth stories of resilience to an audience of 85.

One of our youth coalition leaders, Logan Weilbaker, moderated a panel including Indiana State Senator Chris Garten, Emergency Department Medical Director and person in long-term recovery, John Croasdell, former Scott County student and current Purdue student, Eliza Mount, and others on the reasons why youth turn to alcohol and other drugs as a coping mechanism for trauma, stress, and anxiety.

The town hall forum also looked at the impact that adverse childhood experiences have had on Scott County and discussed how resilience, connection and community are positive anecdotes to trauma. The film premiere featured the stories of 5 Scott County youth who have shown remarkable resilience in coping with traumatic life events.

In our Year 3 and 4 Drug Free Communities 12-Month Action Plan, CEASe of Scott County identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as a primary root cause of substance use/misuse in Scott County, and therefore, incorporated the strategy of promoting community-wide trauma-informed care training into our plan. We subsequently reached out to the Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) in Walla Walla, Washington, well known across the country for its outstanding trauma-informed and resilience training. CEASe, with the assistance of our DFC evaluator, administered a county-wide Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Survey that helped to identify a Scott County ACE score. Results from that survey were shared at the October 1, 2020 CEASe Meeting.