{"id":17512,"date":"2024-06-29T17:40:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T16:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=17512"},"modified":"2024-10-05T14:56:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T13:56:27","slug":"washington-tribes-look-to-iceland-for-help-getting-teens-off-drugs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/06\/washington-tribes-look-to-iceland-for-help-getting-teens-off-drugs-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington tribes look to Iceland for help getting teens off drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-header\">\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">By Grace Deng &#8211; Journalist, <\/span><span class=\"createdby\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\" title=\"Written by: Washington State Standard\">Washington State Standard &#8211; <\/span><span class=\"published\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\" title=\"Published: Feb. 19 2024\"><time datetime=\"2024-02-19T08:50:40-08:00\">Feb. 19 2024<\/time><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Washington tribal leaders are looking at an overseas model to combat the rise in opioid use among teens.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s called the Icelandic Prevention Model, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/09687637.2020.1863916\">it\u2019s helped slash alcohol use<\/a>\u00a0among Icelandic 15- and 16-year-olds from 77% to 35% in 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no other model in the world that has that kind of turnaround in the community,\u201d said Nick Lewis, councilmember of the Lummi Nation and chairman of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board.<\/p>\n<p>Washington has dubbed its effort the \u201cWashington Tribal Prevention System\u201d and the Health Care Authority, along with five tribes, will partner with Planet Youth, a non-profit bringing the Icelandic Prevention Model to other places.<\/p>\n<p>The model involves re-thinking how to discourage drug use by placing responsibility on the community, rather than the individual. Instead of asking kids to \u201cjust say no,\u201d the Icelandic Prevention Model calls on the adults in a child\u2019s life to create an environment without drugs and alcohol, said Margr\u00e9t Lilja Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir, chief knowledge officer at Planet Youth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe child should never be responsible for the situation in the community,\u201d Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir said.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Tribal Prevention System officially kicked off its ten-year pilot program with the ceremonial signing of contracts on Feb. 14. The five tribal governments participating are Jamestown S\u2019Klallam Tribe, Lummi Nation, Tulalip Tribes, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Colville Tribes.<\/p>\n<p>In Washington, American Indian and Alaska Native residents\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonstatestandard.com\/2023\/11\/08\/were-burying-them-every-week-tribes-call-on-inslee-to-declare-opioid-emergency\/\">have the highest rate of death from opioid overdoses<\/a>, far outpacing other races and ethnicities,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.wa.gov\/data-and-statistical-reports\/washington-tracking-network-wtn\/opioids\/overdose-dashboard\">according to state Department of Health data.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur stories might be different,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cBut if they can turn things around, we can too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first two years, the Health Care Authority officials said, are just administrative planning, which will cost $2 million to $3 million a year. Gov. Jay Inslee has called for $1 million for the project in his supplemental budget proposal this year, and the rest of the money would come from federal grants.<\/p>\n<p>Whether lawmakers will provide the $1 million Inslee requested or some other amount for the program will become clearer in the days ahead as the Legislature irons out budget legislation.<\/p>\n<p>When the program moves out of the planning phase \u2013 scheduled to happen in its third year \u2013 costs are expected to go up dramatically. But Aren Sparck, tribal affairs administrator for the Health Care Authority, said he\u2019s optimistic about finding funding from both private and public entities because of how much interest there is in the model.<\/p>\n<p>Sparck also said the program could be adopted by other tribes and communities. \u201cI think this is going to be a test for the entire state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>What exactly is the Icelandic model?<\/h2>\n<p>In Iceland, youth, parents, schools, the government and other community members work in tandem to create an environment that discourages drug use.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the country has free after-school activities funded by the government. Kids are bussed directly to those activities. Youth councils help shape what activities happen, so teens are actually interested. It\u2019s about making drug-use prevention a lifestyle, said Loni Greninger, tribal vice chair at Jamestown.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Health Care Authority officials and several tribal delegations visited Iceland to see the model for themselves. Sparck said he was skeptical at first \u2014 but when he saw the model in person, \u201cjaws were on the floor.\u201d The way Iceland has managed to make its model just a part of daily life, Sparck said, is exactly what he wants to see in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was talking to some of the youth and asking them, \u2018What\u2019s it like to be in the world\u2019s most successful prevention model? And they asked us, \u2018What\u2019s the Icelandic Prevention Model?\u2019\u201d Sparck said.<\/p>\n<p>Sparck said one of the things he learned about was a large dance party that young people in Iceland helped plan. Students invited one of the well-known DJs in Europe and policed each other, ensuring there were no drugs and alcohol at the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we saw was empowering the youth to make their decisions together. So they own this, and they\u2019re a part of it and invested in it,\u201d Sparck said.<\/p>\n<p>Putting trust in youth to help create an alcohol and drug-free environment is also a big part of the model, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA child wants a healthy environment,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cA child wants to grow up and be healthy. You never hear a child say \u2018I want to grow up and be a drug addict.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The tribal model<\/h2>\n<p>The Icelandic Prevention Model relies on cultural practices within Iceland. Planet Youth works with its partners to translate the model into their own cultures, Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir said.<\/p>\n<p>While this is the first time Planet Youth has worked with tribal governments, Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir and tribal leaders said Iceland and Washington\u2019s tribes share a lot of values in common \u2014 namely the belief that it takes a community to raise a child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re literally wrapping your arms around these kids in everything prevention and wellness,\u201d Greninger said about Iceland\u2019s model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we tribes aspire to do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when you are working with separate entities, we all have our own visions and missions and agendas, we\u2019re all busy every single day. It\u2019s hard to line up all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Planet Youth \u2014 and efforts to implement Iceland\u2019s model in other places \u2014 are relatively new, and it took Iceland decades to get where it is now. But\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/37006583\/\">there\u2019s already research<\/a>\u00a0suggesting Iceland\u2019s model is transferable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a quick fix,\u201d Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir said. \u201cIt\u2019s a never-ending story. You will always have new kids, new parents, new kinds of substances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a one-year project. It\u2019s a long-term way of thinking,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>When Lummi Nation policymakers presented the Iceland Prevention Model to Lewis, he said he recognized it as just another name for what his tribe is already doing, but without the resources they need to implement it at the level Iceland has.<\/p>\n<p>According to Lewis, it\u2019s often difficult to get funding for tribal drug treatment practices because they aren\u2019t always considered evidence-based \u2014 and it\u2019s almost impossible to gather enough proof that a tribal practice works because tribal populations are so small.<\/p>\n<p>The Icelandic Prevention Model, to Lewis, proves that what tribes have already been trying to do works when it\u2019s fully resourced. He hopes using Iceland\u2019s model will help raise the funding needed and remove the silos between different efforts in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re going to break this cycle, we need to go back to creating healthy environments and get back to the values that bring people together,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Source: https:\/\/www.anacortesnow.com\/news\/health\/5285-washington-tribes-look-to-iceland-for-help-getting-teens-off-drugs<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Grace Deng &#8211; Journalist, Washington State Standard &#8211; Feb. 19 2024 Washington tribal leaders are looking at an overseas model to combat the rise in opioid use among teens. It\u2019s called the Icelandic Prevention Model, and\u00a0it\u2019s helped slash alcohol use\u00a0among Icelandic 15- and 16-year-olds from 77% to 35% in 20 years. \u201cThere\u2019s no other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prevention-research","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}