New Coalition Forms to Prevent Bullying and Substance Abuse

Bullying is a hot topic these days, and a newly formed coalition will work together to prevent it and substance abuse among young people on the North Fork.

Under the auspices of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association, North Fork Alliance Program Director Jennifer Fazio brought together a group of professionals from the North Fork to discuss issues within the community and goals for the alliance.

Ann Hanley from the Suffolk Coalition to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Dependencies explained how the coalition approach has met with success in areas west of the North Fork. Hanley explained how one coalition took a complaint from a store owner about disruptive behavior of teenagers and solved it collaboratively by increasing police patrols, adding additional lighting in the strip mall, and by having a student member "get the word out" for kids to stop hanging out there.

"Store owners who become antagonistic with youth don't always win," said Hanley.

Hanley explained the goal of this newly formed coalition will be a collaboration of resources to prevent substance abuse on the North Fork. Noting the variety of people in the room were all experts in their chosen areas and each had resources to call upon, Hanley said by coming together to work as a team, they had a better chance of reaching people.

"Law enforcement tackles substance abuse in its own way," said Hanley. "But they will tell you that you cannot arrest your way out of a substance abuse problem."

The first step was identifying the major concerns. Liza Coppola, member of the Southold Town Youth Bureau, was the first to step forward with her concerns over alcohol abuse.

"The perception is that Long Island is facing a heroin epidemic," said Coppola. "As a parent, personally what I see as the most abused substance in our town in alcohol. They're drinking younger and younger now."

Coppola, who favors a zero tolerance policy, believes the coalition needs to get the message across that you have the rest of your life to drink alcohol and there is no reason to start doing it when you're a teenager.

Parent and activist Laura Smith said the core of the problem is that there are not enough after school activities, particularly for kids who don't participate in sports, which leaves many hours of unsupervised time. Smith also commented on the lack of a regional transportation system making any organized activities off of school problems a challenge.

Steve Watson, Education Director of the East End Arts Council, brought some ideas for after school creative arts programs at the council's Riverhead and Greenport locations for students ages 14 to 16 to the table. Watson said he needed to finalize the council's spring program list within the next couple of week and he would like to develop program that allow the teens to address the topic, whether it is a poetry slam, creating public service announcement, or writing songs.

"Kids would rather hear this message from other kids than adults," said Watson.

Hanley said the next step needs to be data driven, saying her group prefers all programs be research based and let the data steer the direction of the coalition.

The group's next step is to obtain data from recent substance abuse surveys performed in the area high schools and research what programs are already in place for bullying and substance abuse prevention. The alliance will then take the data and derive a universal strategy.

The next meeting of the North Fork Alliance is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 10.