Episode 138 – ACCADA’s Preventionists Review the 25/26 School YearEpisode 138 – ACCADA’s Preventionists Review the 25/26 School Year
Keeping Ashland Healthy
(Record Date: August 12, 2026)What does prevention really look like in Ashland County?On this episode of Keeping Ashland Healthy, David and the ACCADA Preventionists take a closer look at the prevention work happening in our local schools and...
39:05•2 Sept 2026
School-Year Wins: How Ashland’s Prevention Team Helps Kids Stay Substance-Free
Episode Overview
- Prevention starts early with skills like friendship, goal-setting, listening and using "I" statements, long before alcohol or drugs are mentioned.
- Heavy screen and social media use is shortening attention spans and increasing anxiety, forcing preventionists to adapt with shorter, interactive lessons.
- Hands-on activities, such as the sugar-and-salt fentanyl demonstration, help students grasp how small and invisible a lethal dose can be.
- Older students often say they use substances to cope with stress and mental overload, highlighting the need for emotional regulation and healthier coping tools.
- Prevention works as a long-term, relationship-based effort where consistent contact over years helps students trust educators and remember key messages.
“You didn’t cause it… you can’t cure it, but you can cope with it.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery for young people in one small Ohio county? This conversation zooms in on the 2025–2026 school year in Ashland, where prevention specialists from ACCADA share what it actually looks like to keep kids healthy in real classrooms, not just on paper. Hosted by David Ross, the chat with preventionists Suzanne, Chris, Wendy and Leanne gives a ground-level picture of working with students from kindergarten through high school.
Instead of lecturing about “just say no”, they talk about teaching friendship, decision-making, consequences and emotional regulation long before substances ever enter the picture. Chris explains how changing attention spans and heavy screen use are reshaping how they teach, joking that she’s had to move to “much shorter content” and more hands-on activities.
Her fentanyl sugar-and-salt experiment hits hard when teens realise “you can’t see it… it doesn’t take much”, and that a tiny unseen dose could cost a classmate’s life. Leanne and Suzanne describe older students’ realities: TikTok trends about Benadryl misuse, debates about marijuana now that it’s legal for some adults, and teens admitting they use substances “to quiet down what’s going on in their brains” rather than to party.
One student proudly tells Leanne he stopped vaping so he could wrestle and actually get hired after graduation. Throughout, the team underline that prevention is a long game. Wendy loves seeing kids remember lessons from previous years, and they all stress that relationships are the real engine of change.
As one of them reminds students living with addiction at home: “You didn’t cause it… you can’t cure it, but you can cope with it.” If you’re curious how early skills like listening, using “I” statements and limiting screen time connect to future alcohol and drug choices, this conversation might get you thinking about your own habits as much as your kids’.
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