Prevention & Education Resources

Our prevention and education resources for at-risk youth and families include community education, school-based programs, consultation, training sessions, and targeted prevention programs.

Mental Health First Aid

Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack — even if you have no clinical training — Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help. We provide in-person training in youth, adult, and public safety modules of MHFA, with options for one eight-hour class or two four-hour classes. We will soon be offering both virtual and blended modules of MHFA.

safeTALK

safeTALK is a half-day alertness training that prepares anyone over the age of 15, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper. Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. safeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations and take action by connecting individuals with life-saving intervention resources, such as caregivers trained in ASIST. This is a three-hour, in-person training. We will soon be offering virtual safeTALK via Zoom. Please contact our staff for upcoming training dates or to schedule a training for your community or organization.

REVIVE!

REVIVE! is the Opioid Overdose and Naloxone Education (OONE) program for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currently REVIVE! provides training on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose emergency with the administration of naloxone (Narcan®). This is a one-and-a-half to two-hour class. A free Rx of naloxone will be provided at training (while supplies last). We will also be offering virtual REVIVE! trainings soon. Please contact our staff for upcoming training dates or to schedule a training for your community or organization.

ACEs

Adverse Childhood Experiences – commonly known as ACEs – affect children and families across all communities. ACEs can impact kids’ health and well-being and can have long-term effects on adults’ health and wellness. ACEs can even have consequences that affect entire families, communities, and the larger society. Thankfully, ACEs are preventable. This training will help you understand, recognize, and prevent ACEs. You’ll learn about risk and protective factors, outcomes associated with ACEs, and evidence-based strategies you can use to reduce or eliminate the impact of ACEs and stop them from occurring in the first place. This is a two-hour, in-person training. We also now offer virtual ACEs interface trainings via Zoom. Please contact our staff for upcoming training dates or to schedule a training for your community or organization.

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Lock & Talk

Lock & Talk is a Suicide Prevention Program to reduce easy access to dangerous substances at home. That includes:

Firearms

Because firearms are the most lethal among suicide methods, it is particularly important that you remove them until things improve at home or – second best – lock them very securely.
Medications

Don’t keep lethal doses at home. Your doctor, pharmacist, or the poison control center (1-800-222-1222) may be able to help you determine safe quantities for the medicines you need to keep on hand. Be particularly aware of keeping prescription painkillers (such as oxycodone and methadone) under lock and key, both because of their lethality and their potential for abuse.
Alcohol

Alcohol can both increase the chance that a person makes an unwise choice, like attempting suicide, and increase the lethality of a drug overdose. Keep only small quantities at home.

Crossroads CSB prevention can provide gun safety locks, drug deactivating kits, timer caps, and Rx drug lock boxes for the family members, friends, or loved ones of those who are at risk of suicide. Please contact one of our prevention specialists to learn how you can get any of the above items.

Lock Your Meds

Lock Your Meds is a campaign to reduce prescription drug abuse by making adults aware that they are the “unwitting suppliers” of prescription medications being used in unintended ways, especially by young people. We provide Rx lock boxes or pouches to safely secure substances of abuse as well as drug deactivation kits for proper and safe drug disposal. We also have Rx drug timer caps that help provide better safety, more vigilance, and greater adherence to taking prescription medication as prescribed.

PAPSA

Piedmont Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Abuse is a local community coalition working to keep our region safe and free from substance abuse. All community members and partners are encouraged to participate in these efforts.

BeWellVA

Crossroads CSB is also a partner in the Region IV Suicide Prevention campaign BeWellVA.com. Please check the website for a list of suicide prevention and education resources as well as behavioral wellness resources.

For more information, contact one of our prevention specialists:

Dwayne Delaney, Regional Prevention Coordinator
[email protected] (434-392-3187 ext. 274, 269)
Christopher Robinson, Prevention Specialist
[email protected] (434-392-3187 ext. 276)