The Office of Behavioral Health, Community Prevention and Early Intervention Programs (OBH-CPEI) is committed to promoting the health and safety of Colorado citizens by working with our community partners to improve access to high quality primary prevention of substance use programs. OBH-CPEI works in partnership with key policymakers, prevention providers, various state level organizations, families, individuals and, most importantly, communities to promote and strengthen the Colorado substance abuse primary prevention infrastructure throughout the state.
Local communities are paramount to the success of prevention programming throughout the state, and it is with the communities where the real work happens. OBH-CPEI funds local communities throughout the state to implement a wide range of community level, empirically based prevention programming aimed at preventing the misuse of legal and illegal substances, while reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors associated with substance misuse and general wellness.
According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual average of 11.5 percent of Colorado adolescents aged 12-17 initiated alcohol use for the first time in the past year from 2011 to 2015. The annual average for initiated marijuana use in the past year was 7.7 percent , and an annual average of 5.2 percent initiated cigarette use in the past year.
Colorado will often rely on the data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey and the NSDUH to do the following:
- Determine prevalence of health behaviors among youth
- Assess youth behavior trends over time
- Examine the occurrence of youth health behaviors
- Provide comparable national, state, regional and local youth health data
- Provide comparable health data among subpopulations of youth
A comprehensive approach to behavioral health also means seeing prevention as part of an overall continuum of care. The Behavioral Health Continuum of Care Model recognizes multiple opportunities for addressing behavioral health problems and disorders.(Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, 2017)
- Prevention Programs
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- Persistent Drunk Driving/Law Enforcement Assistance Funds (PDD/LEAF)
- State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grant
- CRAFT and Celebrating Families Trainings- learn how to request one of these trainings
- CRAFTis a scientifically based intervention designed to help concerned significant others (CSOs) to engage treatment-refusing substance abusers into treatment. This intervention method was developed with the belief that since family members can and do make important contributions in other areas of addiction treatment (i.e., family and couples therapy), that the CSO can play a powerful role in helping to engage the substance user who is in denial to enter and stay in treatment. The CRAFT model was adapted with the model developer and OBH\'s director of prevention and early intervention to incorporate procedures that teach the CSO to build protective factors and reduce risk factors for the children in the home. This is the first model that incorporates both prevention and treatment.
- Celebrating Families is a parenting skills training program designed for families in which one or both parents are in early stages of recovery from substance use. Group topics include healthy living, nutrition, communication, feelings and defenses, anger management, facts about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, chemical dependency as a disease, the effects of chemical dependency on the whole family, goal setting, making healthy choices, healthy boundaries, healthy friendships and relationships, and individual uniqueness.
- CRAFT-P
- CRAFT and Celebrating Families Trainings- learn how to request one of these trainings
- Substance Abuse Prevention Block Grant (SABG)
- Early Intervention Programs
- Prevention Resources
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- Putting Prevention Science to Work: Colorado's Statewide Strategic Plan for Primary Prevention of Substance Abuse (2019-2024)
- Making the Wise Investment: Statewide Needs Assessment of Primary Prevention for Substance Abuse (February 2018)-The Colorado Office of Behavioral Health (OBH)contracted with the Colorado Health Institute to conduct a statewide needs assessment from June 2017 to February 2018 to identify gaps in substance abuse primary prevention program funding. The findings informed a state substance abuse primary prevention priority setting and strategic planning exercise for future statewide community funding allocations.
- Putting Prevention Science to Work: Colorado's Statewide Strategic Plan for Primary Prevention of Substance Abuse (2019-2024)
- Contacts
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For more information about substance abuse prevention and early intervention programs and services, please contact:
Claudia Zundel, Director of Community Prevention and Early Intervention Programs
Office of Behavioral Health
claudia.zundel@state.co.us | 303.866.7528Sharon Aragon, Program Assistant
Community Prevention and Early Intervention Programs
sharon.aragon@state.co.us | 303.866.7430Detre Godinez, Evaluation Data Supervisor for Community Prevention and Early Intervention
Office of Behavioral Health
detre.godinez@state.co.us | 303.866.7712Bonnie Holladay, Community Prevention Programs Coordinator
Office of Behavioral Health
bonnie.holladay@state.co.us | 303.866.7503Sharon Liu, Community Prevention Programs Manager
Prevention and Early Intervention Programs
Office of Behavioral Health
sharon.liu1@state.co.us | 303.866.7507Jodi Lockhart, Community Prevention Programs Manager
Prevention and Early Intervention Programs
Office of Behavioral Health
jodi.lockhart@state.co.us | 303.866.7497Gregor Rafal, Evaluation Data Manager for Community Prevention and Early Intervention
Office of Behavioral Health
gregor.rafal@state.co.us | 303.866.7546Shaina Riciputi, Evaluation Data Manager for Community Prevention and Early Intervention
Office of Behavioral Health
shaina.riciputi@state.co.us | 303.866.7708Ari Stillman, Evaluation Data Manager for Community Prevention and Early Intervention
Office of Behavioral Health
ari.stillman@state.co.us | 303.866.7550