Tag - substance abuse

By: Jessica Bickford

There’s no doubt about it, we have some pretty great libraries and librarians in our region.  They know books, have wonderful programs for our children and teens, serve as technology centers, provide audiobooks for our commutes, and generally connect us to the communities where we live. I want to share one more reason to visit…

Healthy Lamoille Valley has partnered with 10 local libraries (Glee Merritt Kelley Community Library, Jeudevine Memorial Library, Craftsbury Public Library, Greensboro Free Library, Varnum Memorial Library, Waterville Town Library, Johnson Public Library, Lanpher Memorial Library, Morristown Centennial Library, and the Stowe Free Library) to provide community members open access to six films related to substance abuse prevention. In most libraries these films are with the other movies to check out. These films were recommended by substance abuse prevention professionals around the state as providing solid information on a variety of topics impacting families locally.

While many of these films have been publicly shown in our region over the past few years, we realize that showing times don’t always work with everyone’s schedules. That’s the beauty of this project.  You can select a film, go to your library and check it out to watch on your time. Or, you might want to gather a group of friends (or staff) and host an informal film discussion.

The film titles include:

The Other Side of Cannabis: Negative Effects of Marijuana on Our Youth – Brings attention to the negative effects of marijuana on our youth–adolescents, teenagers and young adults whose brains are still forming.  

The Hungry Heart – Created by Vermont Producer/Director, Bess O’Brien highlighting the prescription drug/opiate crisis in Vermont.

The Anonymous People – Features the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

Deadly Persuasion – The Advertising of Alcohol & Tobacco – Identifies 7 myths that the alcohol industry wants us to believe. Here’s a Discussion Guide.

Paper Tigers – One High School’s Unlikely Success Story – Highlights the importance of the presence of one dependable and caring adult. Watch the trailer here.

Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies & Alcohol – Offers an indispensable critique of the role that contemporary popular culture plays in glamorizing excessive drinking and high-risk behaviors.  Watch the trailer here.

We hope to soon add copies of the film Resilience to these collections. To find out about upcoming community screenings of Resilience click here.

We invite the community to watch these films and then talk about them. Include teens in the viewing and discussion. Where are they seeing these substances? How are they able to avoid experimenting and help others make wise choices? What can be done to help people avoid substance abuse? How can we help those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction? You can find additional conversation starters related to these films
at: healthylamoillevalley.org/film-project.

Jessica Bickford has worked as Coordinator of Healthy Lamoille Valley for a little over two years, where she has enjoyed writing for their blog. Writing for Copley’s community blog is a natural extension of this experience! Healthy Lamoille Valley focuses on making healthy choices easy choices, realizing that when we have access to healthy options we are less likely to choose behaviors that are harmful. Prevention is really a lifestyle of wise choices that enable us to live life to the fullest.