The LowCountry Alliance for Healthy Youth (LCAHY) was featured in CB2 Magazine in an article entitled “Risky Business” for its efforts to curb youth substance use and promote positive lifestyles through a comprehensive community wide plan involving 12 community sectors. Linda Hopkins, CB2 writer, noted that LCAHY started in response to a tragic impaired driving accident involving multiple local teens in 2011. The article went on to express the importance of addressing teen health because the teen brain is still growing and susceptible to poor decision making or risky business, as well as mental illness. Dr. Novice, a developmental psychologist and LCAHY’s consultant, stated that communication with teens about the dangers and risks of substance use is key. Through LCAHY’s social media campaign, all community members are encouraged to be Part of the Solution by talking early and often to youth about the dangers of substance use. David Martin, business sector representative on LCAHY’s community board, stressed the importance of prevention to prevent addiction. David has been instrumental in coordinating “We ID the LCAHY Way” to train those that sell and serve alcohol how to properly check IDs to prevent teen access to alcohol. For all his efforts in championing teen health, David Martin was recently recognized as the first recipient of the Joan and Wade Webster Community Impact Award. David Martin has worked closely with youth to post signage to discourage the sale of alcohol to minors and has supported other initiatives of LCAHY’s Youth coalition, Teens for Healthy Youth. LCAHY’s Youth coordinator, Laura Pirkey, noted that teens can greatly change community norms through peer-to-peer education on the dangers of substance use and by supporting their peers by providing resources to help teens manage stress and related mental health issues. Teens for Healthy Youth are key in showing youth that many teens choose to lead healthy lives and avoid substance use. To read the full article in CB2’s April Edition by Linda Hopkins visit https://issuu.com/celebrat/docs/cb2-may2023-issue.
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