Ideas for Raising Awareness for COA WEEK February 10-16, 2008

Ideas for Raising Awareness
COA WEEK February 8 - 14, 2009

Speak out as an organization and as an individual. Advocate for the children and families affected by alcoholism and other drug dependencies. An estimated 25 percent of all children in the U.S. (about 27.8 million) are affected by or exposed to a family alcohol problem. This does not include those affected by or exposed to other drug problems. All of these children are at increased risk for a range of problems, including physical illness, emotional disturbances, behavior problems, lower educational performance, and susceptibility to alcoholism or other addiction later in life. Their needs often go unaddressed for a great variety of reasons – some emotional, some financial, and all very persistent. It doesn’t have to be that way
Order and distribute free pamphlets and posters to counselors and student assistance professionals in your community schools. Download and print the COA Week poster on the NACoA website www.nacoa.org. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, through SHIN – its Health Information Network – has chosen Children of Alcoholics 2009 as the health issue of the month and is making available outstanding pamphlets and posters free of charge that can be used to raise awareness and provide helpful messages to COAs this month and throughout the year in multiple health, education and social service settings. To order visit http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/results.aspx?topic=17&h= Make your school personnel aware of the book Help Is Down the Hall: A Handbook on Student Assistance which can be accessed at http://www.nacoa.org/studenta.htm
Ask Churches and Other Faith-Based Organizations to join in Children of Alcoholics Week. Something as simple as recognition in the bulletin and newsletter would be a start. Clergy may want to address addiction as it impacts family or how it can be a barrier to spiritual growth. Suggest that they make available to young congregants the pamphlet It Feels So Bad and to adult members Alcohol and Drug Addiction Happens in the Best of Families…and it Hurts. Ask that Children of Alcoholics Week be announced in the bulletin and that the COA Week poster be on display from Sunday February 8 through Saturday, February 14 – and throughout the month of February. A second poster, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Hurts Everyone in the Family…It doesn’t have to be that way, could be posted for even long-term display. These materials are available free from http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/results.aspx?topic=17&h= You also may want to suggest that “Core Competencies for Clergy and Other Pastoral Ministers” is available upon request and online at http://www.nacoa.org/clergy.htm
Help your local schools, treatment programs and faith communities become acquainted with SAMHSA’s free Children’s Program Kit – order kits through SHIN so that you will have a sample of this comprehensive toolkit for providing educational support groups for children and youth K-12 when you visit these organizations. Read through the Kit to become acquainted with it and its multiple choices for helping these most at risk young people in a way that is educational and fun. To order this Kit – regular or Native American version, visit http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/results.aspx?topic=17&h=
Stimulate a Proclamation. Join with other groups in your town or state to persuade the mayor or governor or state legislators to make an official proclamation of Children of Alcoholics Week 2009. Announce the event with as much fanfare as possible, including a kick-off press conference and as much TV or radio coverage as you can attract. Work with the public affairs office that serves the official who will be signing the proclamation. See Sample Proclamation online at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/seasonal/coaweek/proclamation.aspx
Engage health care professional associations and managed care organizations. Contact your community’s health care professional associations (hospital association, medical and dental society, nurses’ association) and managed care organizations. Show them the Children of Alcoholics Week poster and related pamphlets and ask that they be featured in display racks, on their web sites, and in their publications. It is a good way to be sure they know who you are and strengthen networking potential while raising awareness about health risks (mental and physical) to COAs.
Help health care providers focus on the needs of COAs and their families. Give your community hospitals, health clinics, and physicians and any other local health care providers copies of the Children of Alcoholics Week posters and brochures for display in waiting rooms and professional lounges for patients and clients. They may find that these materials help their own understanding and conversations with children and parents around alcoholism and addiction and how these conditions significantly impact health and the need for addressing them within health care.
Distribute Prepared Materials. Celebrate Children of Alcoholics Week 2009 with a simple information distribution campaign. Using material already developed, call and visit the offices of organizations whose work is like yours or otherwise well-suited to the messages of Children of Alcoholics Week. Ask them to display the Children of Alcoholics Week 2009 poster and other materials in their public areas. (Download the poster on this site or call NACoA at 1-888-554-2627 to request one or more sent to you.) Would they be willing to include a COA public service announcement in their publications? Whenever and whoever you visit in support of Children of Alcoholics Week, encourage them – especially if they are public officials - to take a poster and display pamphlets to raise health promotion messages in connection with children of alcoholics and other drug dependent parents.
Visit Elected Officials. Make Children of Alcoholics Week 2009 an opportunity to tell the story of your own organization’s work, to urge support for an official Children of Alcoholics Week Proclamation, and to emphasize your ongoing concerns for the needs of COAs. Take with you the research paper on the extraordinary Adverse Childhood Experiences Study conducted over 10 years by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente with a cohort of 17,000 showing the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on developing children and its lifetime health and mental health consequences. Download from NACoA’s site – The Health and Social Impact of Growing Up With Alcohol Abuse and Related Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Human and Economic Costs of the Status Quo. You can also take with you a copy of the Children of Addicted Parents Fact Sheet available at http://www.nacoa.net/pdfs/addicted.pdf . Encourage them to make intervening and providing support to these children a paramount cost-saving strategy in any health care reform measures.