- Home
- Your Government
- Health & Community Services
- Community
- Substance Use Prevention
Substance Use Prevention
Our efforts promote youth mental health, improved school performance, and local implementation of evidence-based strategies to delay and prevent youth substance use, to support all San Juan County youth in achieving thriving good health and positive pathways for their future.
Prevention Coalitions
We participate in county-wide prevention efforts in collaboration with local partners including schools, community resource centers, youth-serving organizations, businesses, and the justice system to build protective factors and resilience in our youth. Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan Islands have community coalitions and youth groups dedicated to strengthening community collaboration in support of youth health and wellbeing.
The Lopez Prevention Coalition and Lopez Youth Health Advocates
A group of Lopezians working together to reduce youth substance use, promote youth mental health, and foster youth development through the power of hope to grow the good in our community. They focus on providing education and opportunities to support youth, families, and the community to make healthy choices. They host youth leadership trainings and social events, community trainings, regional summits, and advocacy projects. The coalition is co-designed and co-led by the Lopez Youth Health Advocates whose motto is Our Health, Our Future.
For more information visit https://lifrc.org/youth-engagement/.
Coalition for Orcas Youth
The Coalition for Orcas Youth is community owned and operated, guided by a diverse board of key partners. They work as a community to increase protection in our community to make it easier for youth to continue making healthy choices, which ultimately leads to positive mental health and even lower rates of substance use.
The coalition uses a public health approach to change conditions to promote well-being and build strengths in the community to prevent problems before they occur. They use a data driven process to focus efforts on the most important risk and protective factors in our community. They utilize evidence-based menus to identify appropriate programs, policies, and strategies.
For more information visit http://www.coalitionfororcasyouth.org/
Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative (CPWI)
This initiative pairs a community coalition with a school-based Prevention Intervention Specialist to enhance support for youth in the spaces where they learn and grow. Through community collaboration and evidence-based programming it addresses youth mental health, delinquency, and school performance with a priority placed on preventing and reducing youth substance use. After serving this community for over 20 years as the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition, in 2025 we changed our name to the Friday Harbor Youth Coalition to center and communicate our purpose – youth!
- The mission of the Friday Harbor Youth Coalition is to strengthen community resilience and empower youth to make healthy choices.
- We prioritize elevating the strengths of our community and working with community partners to channel these strengths into enhancing community protective factors. This collaborative positive effort sustains our commitment to reduce risk factors.
Logo and website links are coming soon!
For more information about the school-based Prevention/Intervention services, visit NW ESD 189 https://www.nwesd.org/behavior_health/prevention-intervention/.
Washington State Healthy Youth Survey
The Healthy Youth Survey invites students to confidentially and anonymously share about their health, wellbeing, attitudes and experiences. This information is used to understand trends in adolescent health and behavior to support communities, schools, local health jurisdictions and state agencies in making wise decisions about policies and programs to promote healthy youth development.
More Information
Health Information for Teens:
- Washington Teen Health Hub https://doh.wa.gov/teenhealthhub
- HearMeWa https://hearmewa.org/
- Focus On https://focusonyouwa.org/
- You Can https://www.youcanwa.org/
- Choose You https://chooseyouwa.org/
- North Sound Regional Youth Cannabis and Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/3203/Youth-Cannabis-Tobacco-Prevention-Progra
College Students:
- Not a Moment Wasted: https://notamomentwasted.org/
Health Information for Adults
- Safe Storage: Secure your cannabis: https://www.preventcoalition.org/securecannabis/
- Learn about cannabis: https://www.learnaboutcannabiswa.org/
- Start Talking Now: https://starttalkingnow.org/
- Friends for Life https://wafriendsforlife.com/
- Starts with One https://www.getthefactsrx.com/
Last updated April 29, 2025.