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Fighting Back has acted as a catalyst for bringing together a diverse group of people and organizations to help in the battle against substance abuse. Without this valuable effort, Santa Barbara would be years behind in this difficult task.
--Richard Breza
Chief of Police, City of Santa Barbara
Member, Santa Barbara Fighting Back Executive Committee
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The entire city of Santa Barbara and its neighboring communities comprise the target area for the Santa Barbara Fighting Back Project. Located on the South Coast, Santa Barbara is known for its beautiful coastline, majestic mountains and scenic rural valleys. Santa Barbara Fighting Back is a project of the Santa Barbara Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, an independent nonprofit organization.
Objectives:
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Reduce prevalence & severity of alcohol & other drug use among youth, ages 12 - 17. |
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Increase the quality and capacity of substance abuse treatment, especially for adolescents, and their families. |
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Reduce public mayhem associated with excessive alcohol consumption in the South State Street area. |
Strategy:
The Fighting Back Youth Service System (YSS) is the key element of the strategy to reduce youth substance abuse in Santa Barbara. Trained Youth Service Specialists on each secondary school campus provide early identification, intervention and support for students with substance abuse problems and related issues. They provide drop-in counseling and are uniquely positioned to learn of youth and other family members' substance abuse. They organize school-based prevention strategies, including training for staff, sober activities, and classroom prevention education. The information from the YSS staff also provides significant documentation of the need for substance abuse treatment services for residents of Santa Barbara.
The Fighting Back strategy uses the media to disseminate messages to discourage drug use by youth and to support mentoring efforts to assure appropriate child-adult relationships in the Santa Barbara area.
A new intensive substance abuse treatment program for juvenile offenders is a major step in increasing access to treatment for Santa Barbara residents.
The strategy to reduce alcohol-related mayhem in the downtown corridor has received great momentum from the community's support and encouragement of server training for alcohol outlets.
Indicators:
Youth
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Change in the rate of ATOD offenses |
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Change in ATOD suspensions and expulsions |
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Change in number and percentage of youth identified and referred to treatment |
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Selected items in school survey |
Treatment
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Increase utilization of treatment services |
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Increase availability of intensive treatment services for adolescents and their families. |
Substance abuse and mayhem in South State Street area
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Decrease in number of problem outlets, as defined by Santa Barbara police |
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Change in DUI-related collisions |
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Change in DUI-related injuries |
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Change in calls for police service |
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