The Grand Traverse County Drug Free Coalition (GTCDFC) has a mission to create a community-wide culture of awareness and action in the prevention, treatment, and recovery of substance use disorders. The coalition has been meeting since 2015 and is made up of experts from various sectors of the community that come together to address substance misuse. The coalition is funded in part by a grant from the Northern Michigan Regional Entity. Lauren Reed is the coalition coordinator.
The coalition meets on the second Thursday of each month, excluding July and December, from 4-5pm. Meetings are hybrid and can be attended in person at Addiction Treatment Services’ The PORCH or on Zoom. The meetings consist of education from guest speakers, discussion, and sharing of community resources and events.
The coalition’s youth component is the Students Together Against Negative Decisions (STAND) Clubs, which are student led prevention clubs in the county’s high schools. The clubs are facilitated by the coalition coordinator and a Youth Engagement Liaison from each school. The students identify the needs in their specific school and then plan and implement activities and events in their school and local community that focus on substance misuse prevention.
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