This training is presented by The Professional Youth Worker. It's our mission to help you and your team build your skills and boost your passion for serving young people. Join us!
Youth Substance Abuse Prevention

- On-Demand Webinar
- Recorded on Monday, December 23, 2019
- 1.5 hour training
- FREE for YIPA members
- $30 for non-YIPA members
- 98% approval rating
- Not a member? Annual membership is $124 for individuals or $300 for organizations. Join now or learn more.
Learners' Own Words
"I will be going through this with my team of staff that directly works with me and the youth."
"Awesome resources."
"Great information."
Your Training Description
Substance use and abuse among youth often leads to problems that can negatively impact their lives. It can also develop into lifelong issues impacting not just the youth but their families and communities, too. Prevention programs are most effective when families, communities, and caring adults all work together to provide consistent education and support on a regular basis.
By gaining the necessary knowledge and skills, you can help prevent substance abuse in the youth you serve. Understanding different types of risk and protective factors that impact substance abuse will assist you in your prevention efforts. Your ability to build a community coalition will increase your effectiveness and ensure there is support when and where youth need it.
Through lessons learned in Minnesota by the Regional Prevention Coordinators, you’ll be able to apply proven substance abuse prevention skills in your own community. You’ll learn about effective protective factors, gain tools you can use, and explore practical action steps to apply in your youth programs. You’ll also be able to find and use local data to strengthen your own prevention efforts. By building coalitions in every community, we can all work together to prevent youth substance abuse and create long-term social change.
Your Learning Objectives
- Learn about the Regional Prevention Coordinators and other substance abuse prevention resources
- Understand why coalitions are an important part of substance abuse prevention
- Be able to recognize risk and protective factors that can affect the likelihood of youth substance use and abuse
- Know how to find and use local substance abuse data to enhance your prevention efforts
- Identify how you and your organization can be active partners in substance abuse prevention
Your Trainers

Laura Bennett is the Northeast MN Regional Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Prevention Coordinator (RPC), located at the Carlton-Cook-Lake-St Louis Community Health Board in Duluth. She has served as the RPC for Northeast MN since March 2007. Laura is a Certified Prevention Professional Reciprocal (CPPR) and has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Health Sciences from The College of St. Scholastica (CSS).

Kjirsten Anderson is a Regional Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Prevention Coordinator (RPC), at the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. Kjirsten serves Minnesota’s seven county metro area. She completed her Master’s degree in Public Health, with a concentration in Community Health Education, from UW La Crosse in 2017. Kjirsten is also a Certified Health Education Specialist and a Certified Prevention Professional.
Kjirsten and Laura are part of a team of seven Regional ATOD Prevention Coordinators in the state of Minnesota funded through a grant from the MN Department of Human Services – Behavioral Health Division. They are trainers of the Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training and Ethics in Prevention training developed by Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration. As Regional ATOD Prevention Coordinators, they work with local communities to address risk and protective factors contributing to substance abuse among youth. They provide support, facilitate, and consult on where to begin, getting the right people to the table, creating a plan, putting the plan into action and figuring out what’s working and what’s not. Their work helps create safer and healthier communities.
Your Competency Focus Area

Each of YIPA’s trainings are designed around a broad framework of eight youth work competencies. The competency focus of this training is: AT-RISK BEHAVIORS.
Develop life-saving skills to identify the warning signs of unhealthy and risky behavior, understand risky behaviors based on a knowledge of adolescent brain development, and know when to report and refer.
Your Training Details
- On-Demand Webinar
- Recorded on Monday, December 23, 2019
- 1.5 hour training
- FREE for YIPA members
- $30 for non-YIPA members
- 98% approval rating
- Not a member? Annual membership is $124 for individuals or $300 for organizations. Join now or learn more.
This training will count as 1.5 CE hours for most boards. Please contact your board directly with questions on submitting. You are encouraged to print or save this training information as a PDF for your records.