Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition promotes healthy lifestyle for youth

A quick drive around Homewood neighborhoods in October and November will reveal a multitude of Red Ribbon Week signs, all stating the same promise: to be drug-free.

Though many people recognize the annual signs, many community members don't know the organization behind them, the Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition.

“[The signs] are just an outward way of demonstrating being drug-free and creating those community norms where that’s what we are about, that’s what Homewood is,” coordinator Carissa Anthony said.

Safe and Healthy Homewood is a youth drug prevention group, started in 2012, that is made up of community volunteers who plan and implement youth activities and drug-free programs, including the Homewood High School Peer Helpers and Red Ribbon Week. 

Red Ribbon Week, held in October, is a chance to advocate for a drug-free community in schools and through the yard sign program, Anthony said, where residents request a free sign to draw attention to families striving to be drug-free. 

Many of the signs, Anthony said, stay up much longer than a week, and even through the year.

In the upcoming year, the coalition wants to continue to grow its impact and reduce the stigma associated with key health issues like addictions, mental health and suicide awareness, which they address through classes with students and parents in the school system.

Anthony said the Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition has around 60 or 70 members who discuss strategies and educational resources for students and parents. The group has continued to add community prevention programs through donations and federal government funding.  

Anthony said teenagers still sometimes “get a bad rap” based on stereotypes. As a co-sponsor of the HHS Peer Helpers, Anthony gets to work closely with those students and said the program shines a light on how a lot of high schoolers have chosen to be drug- and alcohol-free. 

“These are kids who are out there serving as awesome role models for others,” Anthony said. 

Homewood High School senior Ellie Gray, for example, chose to be a peer helper so she could set a good example for her younger brother. This year, she is one of the peer helper captains.

“I want to be that example for him ... in order to have a successful life and to get somewhere great, you have to make great choices for yourself,” Gray said.

HHS Peer Helper Captain Hannah Crosswy said she chose to be a peer helper to “be agood role model to younger children,” in addition to building habits of healthy decisionsfor her body.

The peer helpers go through an annual summer training retreat to learn core helping skills and what it means to be a peer helper, in addition to training on dealing with youth, drug and alcohol awareness, suicide prevention and mental health education. Peer helpers also participate in Red Ribbon Week by bringing lessons and skits about substance abuse to elementary and middle school students.

“[The lesson] is about doing things like taking care of your health, thinking about getting plenty of sleep, making good health choices, surrounding yourself with friends that help you make good healthy choices [and] saying ‘no’ to drugs and alcohol because of the negative consequences and the negative impact it has on your health,” Anthony said.

The coalition’s peer helper training includes teaching students how to achieve what they’ve pledged: to be drug, alcohol and tobacco free, and to encourage others toward that goal. Coalition volunteers research and train to teach skills such as how to listen, how to identify resources and how to help friends who need assistance. They also teach peer helpers about the importance of confidentiality when helping a fellow student and why they shouldn’t betray that trust unless a person could be in danger or cause harm to others.

“There are times when our students have to break confidentiality … in the case of abuse or a number of things we train them on,” Anthony said. “… We train them on signs whenever people might be in mental distress or if someone might be suicidal. We want them to understand how to recognize that and what to do in those situations.”

Anthony said they are always looking for more volunteers for the Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition, especially during Red Ribbon Week and for peer helper training and education. 

For more information about Safe and Healthy Homewood Coalition, go to homewood.k12.al.us and visit the Prevention/Intervention section, or email Anthony at canthony@homewood.k12.al.us.