Prevention Resources

National Resources

Research, national trends, materials

• The Suicide Prevention Resource Center promotes a public health approach to suicide prevention. The site includes research, facts and figures, materials and information on best practices in suicide prevention.
• The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) mission is to reduce the impact of substance use and mental illness on America’s communities.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) offers the latest science-based information about the health effects and consequences of drug use and addiction and resources for talking with kids about the impact of drug use on health.
• StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on how kids, teens, young adults, parents, educators and others in the community can prevent or stop bullying.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dedicated to protecting health and promoting quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury, and disability. CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) includes a particular focus on childhood obesity.
• Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) is a national initiative, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which takes a public health approach to preventing youth violence before it starts.​​

State Resources

State trends, support for Illinois communities

• Prevention First is a nonprofit organization that provides training and technical assistance in substance use prevention to schools and state-funded agencies throughout Illinois. 
• CPS has numerous resources for students in need of health clinics, mental health resources, food assistance, healthy relationships, alcohol and substance use, housing, and LGBTQ+ services.

Local Resources

Connection to local services and providers

• The Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Community Health and Prevention funds offices in each of 5 state regions with staff who can direct you to local agencies funded to provide a variety of services for families and individuals.

Prevention Programs

• CATCH My Breath is an evidence-based nicotine vaping prevention program available for elementary school and middle school educators.
• Botvin Life Skills Training is a research-validated substance abuse prevention program for adolescents and young teens to designed to reduce the risks of of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, and violence. The program promotes healthy alternatives to risky behavior through activities.
• All Stars is a continuum prevention program for grades 4-12. The program is designed to delay the onset of risky behavior with adolescents and can be used in school classrooms and community-based settings
• Lions Quest is one of the original Social Emotional Learning (SEL) evidence-based programs that addresses social and emotional development, substance use prevention, and promoting service. This K-12 SEL curriculum can be used in schools and organizations.
• Project Alert is a classroom program for 7th and 8th graders. The goal of this curriculum is to help kids resist substance use by helping adolescents make health decisions related to substance abuse.
• Mendez Foundation provides three prevention programs – Too Good for Drugs, Too Good for Violence, and Seeds of Nutrition. These programs are offered K-12, to learn more about each programs area and structure visit their page.