How Social Media Can Help Prevent Substance Abuse

When it comes to trying to curtail underage drinking and substance abuse, it can be effective to communicate with the audience in its own language and sometimes talk with your hands.

Facebooks messages and Twitter tweets enable organizations that strive to warn youngsters about the dangers of alcohol and drugs to reach a far greater audience.

On Thursday morning, school and town officials from throughout the state met at the  to share tips and to discuss ways to prevent underage drinking and substance abuse by using popular social media platforms.

The purpose of the town hall-style meeting sponsored by the Connecticut Prevention Network was to focus on proven ways of using technology and social media to engage the community while reaching a larger audience, project coordinator Melisa Luginbuhl said.

Youth and human services department staff members were among the group who listened to and took note of presentations by CO:LAB and Co-Communications. They then took that information and participated in a panel discussion and tried to apply it in a controlled, practical exercise.

Middletown Youth Services Bureau Coordinator Justin Paul Carbonella, who has had success with building relationships with students and helping increase awareness of the dangers of drinking and drugs through social media, was one of the panelists.

"There is no other venue that is free that you can get access to that many people," he said about social media. Reports indicate that children check Facebook 10 times a day.

Carbonella’s department has used Facebook for more than five years to create “a window” into students' heads. He said that the medium allows town and school departments a chance to reach a larger targeted audience

"It gives us a very captive audience," he said. Carbonella also works with students and helps them create online identities.

By sending a message to a targeted group of students, the message is more effective, Carbonella said. Information posted on the Youth Service Facebook is shared and liked by the students' friends and peers, he said.

Although the benefits are great, there are also pitfalls to using social media outlets that should be avoided, Carbonella said. He warned professionals not to make impulsive posts and to be conscience of the language that they use online.

"It (social media) has consequences, both good and bad. It (the Internet) is still like the Wild, Wild West. What might be OK today, may not be OK tomorrow," Carbonella said. 

 Coordinator Lori Stanczyc said that she attended the conference to learn different strategies on using social media and technology.

"I want to bring back new ideas to the community coalitions," she said.

During their presentation, CO:LAB officials told those in attendance that social media is not the end all, be all. However, it "can support objectives to increase touch-points with existing audiences and help cultivate new relationships.”

"The core value of social media is relationship building," said Jessica Lyon of Co-Communications and Melissa Harris of CO:LAB. (The full presentation by CO:LAB has been attached as a PDF.)

In the end, Carbonella said it is hard to predict the next steps in the social media process. However, he is looking at developing an iPhone application to help share information with students. Whatever happens, he told administrators that they would have to ready for anything.

"It is a matter of being open to new technology," Carbonella said.

The meeting was sponsored by the Connecticut Prevention Network, which consists all the 13 Regional Action Councils throughout the entire state. The councils provide municipalities with effective strategies, information and training on substance abuse prevention along with violence, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. 

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