{"id":42921,"date":"2023-05-31T15:18:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T19:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=42921"},"modified":"2023-05-31T15:18:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T19:18:46","slug":"genesee-orleans-college-prevention-initiative-grant-connects-gcasa-educators-with-gcc-students-and-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/31\/genesee-orleans-college-prevention-initiative-grant-connects-gcasa-educators-with-gcc-students-and-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"GENESEE\/ORLEANS\/College Prevention Initiative grant connects GCASA educators with GCC students and staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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With a renewed emphasis on health and wellness, the administration at Genesee Community College is confident that a two-year grant to provide alcohol and drug prevention services through Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse will make a positive difference in students\u2019 lives.(Provided photo-Patty Chaya, left, Genesee Community College dean of students, and Shannon Ford, director of Prevention at Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, have announced a College Prevention Initiative grant to provide services at GCC.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Pettinella
GCASA Publicist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn recent months, especially since COVID, we\u2019ve put a lot of energy into opening a new wellness office,\u201d GCC Dean of Students Patty Chaya said. \u201cAnd the health and safety of our students has always been a main priority. This collaboration with GCASA is going to be really great, and it\u2019s coming at a perfect time to build our wellness program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaya recently learned that GCASA received the grant \u2013 about $98,000 annually for two years \u2013 from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. It will enable GCASA to hire one full-time and one half-time prevention educator to work at GCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OASAS has awarded several of these College Prevention Initiative grants to State University of New York or City University of New York community colleges, utilizing federal funding relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose is to implement evidence-based practices and strategies, including individual and family-focused programs and\/or community-level environmental change strategies to prevent or reduce substance misuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon Ford, director of Prevention at GCASA, wrote the Request for Funding proposal, which then was submitted to OASAS for approval. She said her agency and GCC have been seeking a way to collaborate and provide prevention services for the past several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pleased to be able to provide services at the college and are in the process of accepting resumes for the educator positions,\u201d Ford said. \u201cOur plan is to use the BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) and CASICS (Brief Cannabis Screening and Intervention for College Students) evidence-based programs, both of which have produced successful outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two prevention educators will work out of an office in the Dean of Students area on the second floor of the campus\u2019 main building, Chaya said, adding that they will work closely with the college\u2019s wellness specialist, Meghan Bernard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cActually, we have a number of offices that will be working together with these new hires,\u201d she said. \u201cOne is our College Village residence halls — our population down there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI find that I meet with a lot of those students in my office for infractions. And having them meet with one of these GCASA counselors as a sanction may be really helpful, even though they don’t think so all the time. It may help them get back on their feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaya acknowledged that there could be underlying factors that lead to students\u2019 use of drugs and alcohol, and that\u2019s where the wellness piece comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the things that we are looking to work on is peer pressure, lack of connection the students have, disabilities, food insecurity, mental health concerns, poverty or lack of financial resources, lack of resources due to their rural location and a family history of substance abuse,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe they’re struggling with parents getting divorced or a breakup of a relationship. And they really could use some counseling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, in addition, we’ll provide them counseling and we’ll also provide them some sort of assessments for their substance use and hopefully get them back on their feet again. I mean, this is not just a problem with GCC; it’s very widely spread across the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Substance misuse can have lasting consequences for college students, including poor academic performance, assaults, injury and increased risk of developing substance use disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2019, almost 53 percent of full-time college students ages 18 to 22 drank alcohol in the past month and about 33 percent engaged in binge drinking during that same time frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFamily history and other risk factors, such as peer approval and perception of harm, can lead to problems with drugs and alcohol,\u201d Ford said. \u201cHaving this grant gives us a unique opportunity to reach young adults with specific, age- and culturally-appropriate prevention approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaya emphasized that GCC Campus Safety will play a role in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hope is that we can provide some training for campus safety personnel as well as other people on campus, such as the wellness office and my office in the Dean of Students and the Human Services program — and just provide training for the staff so we can sustain the benefits of the grant. By doing this, when it ends in two years, we can keep it going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said it\u2019s all about giving students \u201ca second chance\u201d to reach their potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents want to meet their goals, but sometimes peer pressure or their use of some of these substances may affect their attendance at class,\u201d she observed. \u201cThey may actually go to class high and they don’t remember what was said in class. And they have a greater likelihood of probably getting in trouble around here. We don’t want to see that. We have a very safe campus, and we want that to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outreach will include GCC students receiving services through the college\u2019s Educational Opportunity Program and the Adult Education Opportunity Center, Chaya noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also have \u2013 which sometimes people forget \u2013 online learning. And just because somebody is an online learner, as long as they’re GCC students, they can use our services,\u201d she added. \u201cThey may also need the assistance of counseling or alcohol and drug counseling. Because after COVID, these are people that sometimes were home and smoking weed or drinking, and we need to figure out how they can get back to living a great life and doing well with their academics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaya said the BASICS and CASICS programs are vital to identifying the risk factors and providing avenues to deal with the issues that are hurting their academic and social progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes, when they\u2019re using, there\u2019s a lack of motivation that leads to low grades, and many times they don\u2019t believe that their excessive use of substances can lead to a substance use disorder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A concentrated effort will be placed upon students living at the College Village on-campus residence halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents smoke marijuana in their rooms in the residence halls and don\u2019t want the fire alarm detector to go off, so, they cover their fire alarm fire detector, which is a big no, no,\u201d Chaya said. \u201cAnd some are suspended because of this and lose their housing privileges because it\u2019s putting everyone at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the grant or to apply for the prevention educator positions, contact Ford at sford@gcasa.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a renewed emphasis on health and wellness, the administration at Genesee Community College is confident that a two-year grant to provide alcohol and drug prevention services through Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse will make a positive difference in students\u2019 lives.(Provided photo-Patty Chaya, left, Genesee Community College dean \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,6],"tags":[3713,2481],"class_list":["post-42921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genesee-county","category-orleans-county","tag-college-prevention-initiative-grant","tag-gcasa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-bah","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32317,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/05\/05\/genesee-orleans-counties-gcasa-promotes-sheila-harding-to-assistant-director-of-prevention\/","url_meta":{"origin":42921,"position":0},"title":"GENESEE\/ORLEANS COUNTIES\/GCASA promotes Sheila Harding to assistant director of Prevention","author":"aka","date":"May 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Press release With a track record of success as an advocate for youth, Sheila Harding is equipped to help facilitate drug and alcohol awareness programs as the assistant director of Prevention at Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. \u201cSheila demonstrated her abilities to connect with young people as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genesee County"","block_context":{"text":"Genesee County","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/genesee-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/s-harding-1.jpg?fit=558%2C860&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/s-harding-1.jpg?fit=558%2C860&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/s-harding-1.jpg?fit=558%2C860&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41547,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2023\/04\/14\/genesee-orleans-gcasa-expands-substance-use-disorder-care-through-psycho-stimulant-support-project-grant\/","url_meta":{"origin":42921,"position":1},"title":"GENESEE\/ORLEANS\/GCASA expands substance use disorder care through psycho stimulant support project grant","author":"aka","date":"April 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As the deadly drug fentanyl wreaks havoc in the United States, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths last year according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of psychostimulants also continues at an alarming rate. 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