When Melessa Brenem first started working in intervention programs more than a decade ago, she said it was hard to imagine teenagers as young as 13 struggling with substance abuse. But it's a harsh reality she witnessed first hand and that ignited her passion for preventing addiction among young people.
Brenem now serves as prevention program director for the Permian Basin Regional Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse (PBRCADA), an organization she first started working for in 2012. Brenem believes the programs offered serve as "Dealers of Hope."
"I knew when PBRCADA was hiring to do outreach to 30 counties and to promote healthy drug-free living with youth, well, that was when I decided to make the switch back to prevention," Brenem told the Midland Times.
Since Brenem joined PBRCADA, it's grown from just one program to adding an intervention program for families, the resource center plus a community coalition called the Community Coalition Partnership (CCP). The CCP program is a collaborative partnership among individuals and organizations to prevent and reduce illegal and harmful use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs by carrying out community and evidence-based environmental prevention strategies designed to affect the social, cultural, political, and economic processes of communities. Brenem said it was instrumental in helping pass a social host ordinance in Odessa, which allows law enforcement to fine the owner or renter of a facility where underage drinking took place.
"This is one way the community can be proactive in protecting our young people from underage drinking-related consequences resulting in harmful injuries and/or death," Brenem said.
Other prevention efforts include Families Matter, which is a parenting awareness and drug risk education program. PBRCADA also has Impact Youth programs that promote a dynamic process to address youth and family health and wellness by strengthening protective factors that increase knowledge, skills, and attitudes for making healthy choices. Services address Texas' four prevention priorities: underage alcohol use, tobacco and nicotine product use, marijuana and other cannabinoid use, and prescription drug misuse.
"The youth that we serve in our prevention programs, we are merely planting a seed, watching them spend time for themselves and really think about the choices they are making and how their choices have lasting impacts on their future," Brenem told the Midland Times. "These youth more than ever need to be connected to positivity, whether that is in the community, school, or home. We help young people connect and help them build coping skills that help them be more resilient when hard times approach or they are faced with a difficult choice, like to use a drug, or try vaping."
PBRCADA also has the Region 9 PRC, or Prevention Resource Center, which is a data storage center for West Texas.
It collects and disseminates data related to substance abuse throughout the region and provides substance abuse training, promotes prevention through media awareness, and performs tobacco compliance checks throughout the region.
Brenem said the PRC helps communities understand the drug trends in their own area.