Recommending various public health violence & drug prevention strategies, expressive arts therapy strategies, social connectedness impact strategies to strengthen the human services infrastructure and/or the’“continuum of care”- CoC for children and adolescents.

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SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION, EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY
& FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES FOR REDUCING ADVERSE
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES (ACEs)
JANIARY 30, 2019
Now more than ever, as we begin to implement strategies to help our children and youths
overcome childhood trauma, it’s imperative that agencies and practitioners work together
within shared partnerships to create and provide innovative evidence-based programming.

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The primary goal of substance abuse prevention is to delay the onset of the first use of alcohol
and other drugs. A child experiencing 4 or more “Adverse Childhood Experiences” known as
ACEs and living with a parent or primary caregiver suffering from some form of a Substance Use
Disorder and Dependency means that we should not wait for outward signs or cries for help
before we enroll a child into agency preventative programming
As a result, educators, agency human service practitioners and expressive arts therapists should
develop joint programming utilizing a substance abuse prevention curricula that has been
tested for reliability and validity measures across areas that includes improving a child’s
decision-making skills, increases knowledge and understanding on the dangers of substance
abuse and teach very detailed coping strategies for children to utilize to avoid alcohol/drug use,
and to develoo or change attitudes and beliefs that support healthy development mentally,
physically, and spiritually.
According to the Good Therapy website, “Expressive arts therapy is a multimodal approach to
therapy like its cousin’s drama therapy and music therapy. Expressive arts therapy may
incorporate writing, drama, dance, movement, painting, and/or music. People utilizing
expressive arts therapy are encouraged by a qualified therapist to explore their responses,
reactions, and insights through pictures, sounds, explorations, and encounters with art
processes.” https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/expressive-arts-therapy
Let’s combine or embed an array of expressive arts therapy offerings within the substance
abuse prevention curricula schedules and provide on a consistent basis throughout the year,
In order “prevent” future opioid and other drug overdoses and “prevent or delay the 1st use of
alcohol and other drug use”, we must get to the etiology of what is causing so many of our
young people to begin alcohol or drug use earlier and earlier! We must begin to take a harder
look at “What is/has happened to the child? and really look at the child in a wholistic view., i.e.,
assess the child’s family dynamics and his or her community and school environments.
According to the Center for Disease Control, ACEs Connections advocates, and others,
childhood trauma or “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) continues to be on the rise and if
we really look back, you’ll find that children have had “ACEs Too High” i.e., ACEs scores of 4 and
above all along.
Let’s utilize a Collective Impact framework that executes a shared vision, shared measurement
outcomes, joint programing and evaluation, and most of all, incorporates parent/primary
caretaker engagement, community engagement, content experts with lived experiences who
have overcame their “too high ACEs” scores and became stronger and resilient to lead a
productive adulthood.

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Let’s stop overlooking protective factors and build upon them not re-traumatize children. Let’s
work on providing good protective factor venues or outlets for every child to engage in so that
they can live and thrive and learn healthy communication & positive coping skills that can be
learned from a variety forms, EBP substance abuse prevention curricula, expressive arts, music,
drama, sports activities and various academic interests including coding and other fundamental
tech and vocational courses.
In closing, the above are just a few public health and social impact strategies to strengthen the
infrastructure for the human services’ “continuum of care”- COC for children and adolescents.
HERE’S A BRIEF LISTING OF HIGHLIGHTED MATERIAL REFERENCES FOR
YOUR REVIEW:
1) Artists in the ACEs and resilience movement: Creative avenues to change
https://acestoohigh.com/2017/01/04/artists-in-the-aces-and-resilience-movement-
creative-avenues-to-change/
2) The Use of Art and Music Therapy in Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
Lydia Aletraris, PhD, * Maria Paino, PhD, Mary Bond Edmond, PhD, Paul M. Roman, PhD, and
Brian E. Bride, PhD, MSW, MPHeatment Programs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4268880/
3) The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature
Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The connection between art, healing, and public health: a
review of current literature. American journal of public health, 100(2), 254-63.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/
4) Addiction and the Importance of Social Connections
The National Institute on Drug Abuse Blog Team. (2018, December 10). Addiction and the
Importance of Social Connections. Retrieved from
https://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/addiction-and-importance-social-connections on
January 29, 2019.
https://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/addiction-and-importance-social-connections

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5) The Art of Recovery: Outcomes from Participatory Arts Activities for People Using Mental
Health Services.
Theodore Stickley, Nicola Wright & Mike Slade (2018) The art of recovery: outcomes from
participatory arts activities for people using mental health services, Journal of Mental Health,
27:4, 367-373, DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2018.1437609
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/09638237.2018.1437609?scroll=top&ne
edAccess=true