Wellness Wednesday: Resources, Support and Red Ribbon Week

Welcome to Wellness Wednesday, presented by Orange Partnership and airing on 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com!

This month, join a conversation with Sharquilla Terry, prevention Specialist with Insight Human Services, Arielle Ais, adolescent mental health and substance use clinician at Freedom House Recovery Center, and Gayane Chambless, program director for Orange Partnership, with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey! You can listen to the full discussion below:

Both Insight Human Services and Freedom House Recovery Center are part of the Orange Partnership community coalition.

“As a community coalition, Orange Partnership members are dedicated to working together to ensure that all youth can thrive without the influence of alcohol and drugs,” said Chambless. “We do this through awareness and education, working also to create access to protective factors such as positive pro-social engagement opportunities and mitigating those risk factors that might lead to youth initiating substance use”

With Red Ribbon Week coming up, this year being observed October 23-31, Orange Partnership members will be taking part in increasing visibility for services and support for those who need it.

“National Red Ribbon Week is an awareness campaign that started decades ago, in 1985,” said Chambless. “… After years of steady decline in underage drinking and substance use, with the evolution of the e-cigarettes, vapes, more underage drinking, synthetic THCs such as delta eight, and with the effects of the pandemic, we’ve just seen that increase again. So ,now more than ever, we need to understand the science behind how these different substances could affect the developing brain and be able to talk with them about how that could affect them in their lives, whether it be now or in the future.”

Wellness Wednesday, presented by Orange Partnership, showcases a new conversation on the first Wednesday of each month airing on 97.9 The Hill, with the full series posted on Chapelboro. Meet local organizations working together to prevent underage drinking and drug use, and help young people in our community live healthy and productive lives through awareness, compassion, consideration and positive action!