Oregon City Together updates commission on youth opioid and mental‑health prevention campaigns

Oregon City Together told the Oregon City Commission on May 4 that work funded by two recent grants is advancing a youth‑focused prevention and awareness effort addressing mental health, opioids and fentanyl.

Anne Haynes, director of Oregon City Together, said the city awarded the coalition $20,000 for the 2024–25 Youth Opioid Prevention Grant to support a peer‑led youth mental‑health campaign. The campaign included a five‑session training delivered by national youth trainer Nigel Wrangham to 42 students, primarily AP psychology students at Oregon City High School, who developed the campaign slogan “Resilience isn’t born. It’s built,” and produced posters, social media material and small outreach items for distribution in schools.

Haynes said the program also trained two school counselors in an evidence‑based six‑week group program for teenagers struggling with anxiety, stress or depression; the counselors have implemented the program at OCSLA and may continue to do so using free materials. Oregon City Together intends to measure outcomes with pre/post surveys and to review the Student Health Survey results expected in June.

The coalition also described a paired metro enhancement grant focused on fentanyl and vaping awareness. Students from CASE, OCSLA and OCHS researched messaging and created materials under the existing “Know the Risk” theme; Oregon City Together distributed posters downtown and prepared a mock “hidden in plain sight” teen bedroom for a community forum to help parents recognize paraphernalia. Haynes said the coalition is conducting school assemblies (two middle schools) and an advisory‑period screening at the high school, plus social‑media ads and a billboard placement.

Oregon City Together’s Robin Bergeron described the start of a Communities That Care process supported by a pending Strategic Prevention Framework (SAMHSA) grant. Bergeron said the grant — while not fully finalized — would fund a multi‑year community assessment and implementation of evidence‑based interventions in partnership with Oregon City and Gladstone school districts; the coalition is recruiting key community leaders to join the process.

Brian Shaw, a founding member of the coalition, thanked city staff and commissioners for the initial local funding and encouraged continued exploration of prevention funding sources. Chief Jim Davis (presenting the item) and staff framed the grants as part of an upstream prevention approach: materials, workshops and events are intended to help parents and youth identify risks, lock up medications and access resources.

Upcoming events cited by the coalition include an April 24 screening of the documentary Angst with a parent/child workshop by Dr. Crystal Collier, transition‑focused workshops for incoming sixth‑ and outgoing eighth‑graders in May, and a community forum on fentanyl with law enforcement, public health speakers and a family testimony scheduled in May.

The commission received the update; no formal action was required or taken at the meeting.