Inoculating Teens Against Opioid Abuse

Hi, my name is Larry Blackwell and I’m a licensed clinical social worker and certified addiction counselor in CT, USA. I have created an opioid prevention program but am struggling with a path to actualize it. The program could be presented as a training for therapists to provide clients (groups and families) of it could be a video that therapist could refer parents and their kids to watch together.

As you probably all are aware, here in America we are currently experiencing a huge opioid epidemic and are expected to lose 600,000 people to opioid abuse in the next ten years!! I know Opioid Abuse is not as big of a problem in countries outside of the U.S. but it is still an issue. I believe that the solution to this epidemic is prevention.

Here is how the program would work in a nutshell;

We start with the premise that teens are basically wired to experiment with substances (Think about your own teen years and ask yourself how many of your friends experimented with cigarettes, alcohol, weed or something else).

The program will explain how the teen/young adult brain actually seeks out risky situations as a result of their still-developing executive functioning. We also discuss how it is normal for teenagers/young adults to place a greater value on pursuing excitement than on avoiding danger. For example, a group of teen/young adult friends out joy riding might recognize that some of the driver's behavior is dangerous but they tend to register the danger as scary/exciting as opposed to life-threatening. They also see the situation as strengthening their friendships because they did something scary/exciting together.

Teens/young adults have obviously always been this way and always will be and there are actually some really good reasons for this from an evolutionary point of view. The difference today is that opioids are much more likely to kill teenagers/young adults then the drugs used by earlier generations. The good news is that despite the fact that risk-taking is a normal part of teen/young adult development there is something that can be done to help “inoculate” teens and young adults from abusing opioids.

We do this by using motivational intervention techniques to shape teens/young adults attitudes and beliefs about opioid use. We then help them maintain these attitudes and beliefs despite peers and others attempting to change them.

This is obviously a quick snapshot of the program. I would love some feedback from you folks to see if people would find this program helpful. If so should it be offered as an online training for the therapist so they can offer the prevention service to clients or should it be a video that therapist can refer families too?

Thank you,

Larry Blackwell, LCSW, CAC

860-534-1698