Substance Misuse, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery in Chittenden County

Substance Misuse, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery in Chittenden County

GET HELP

Regional Substance Abuse Prevention Consultants work with community groups, schools, human service agencies, hospitals, law enforcement, parents, and youth. The purpose of this work is to educate communities about the risks of alcohol and other drug use and to reduce misuse among youth, young adults and adults through: 

  • Community organizing
  • Program planning and consultation
  • Presentations and training
  • Community grants information and guidance
  • Information and referral

Prevention Works

Community Organization Focuses on Preventing Alcohol and other Drug Use

The Chittenden Prevention Network and the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission provide coordination of prevention partnerships in your community. These partnerships aim to reduce underage drinking, binge drinking, prescription drug misuse and marijuana use by promoting municipal policy changes, providing opportunities for education and providing referrals to local resources.

Below are the community partners in your area. Contact them to find out what they do and how you can get involved!

Community Partners
  • Association of Africans Living in Vermont helps New Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services.
  • Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community works to reduce the causes and consequences of substance misuse on the city of Burlington through partnerships, community engagement, education, and proven best practices.
  • Camels Hump Middle School PROSPER partnership delivers evidence-based programs to families and youth to bring about positive community-wide change.
  • Connecting Youth is dedicated to creating a safe and healthy environment for young people in the Champlain Valley School District.
  • Essex CHIPS serves youth and their families in Essex Junction, Essex Town, and Westford by providing direct service programs for youth and facilitating partnerships between organizations.
  • Milton Community Youth Coalition aims to build a healthier community through health & wellness, food access, youth empowerment and community engagement in Milton and Colchester.
  • Outright Vermont focuses on building safe, healthy, and supportive environments for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth ages 13-22.
  • Turning Point Center of Chittenden County provides services that help individuals find their own path to recovery and support them in their long-term recovery.
  • Vermont Youth Project is a community-driven collaborative designed to embrace positive youth development in Richmond.
  • Winooski Partnership for Prevention works to prevent substance misuse in Winooski by following current best practices, focusing mainly on strengthening the physical, social, and cultural factors that contribute to health and reducing those that lead to substance misuse.
 

Talking to Your Kids About Alcohol and Other Drugs

PARENT UP Using alcohol and other drugs in early life can have a negative impact on your child’s health now, and later on by impacting proper brain development and creating other risks. You are their #1 influence. Parent Up Vermont has tips on how to start and continue to have conversations with your children early and often, no matter how awkward.
 

Prescription Drug Disposal

Do Your Part Properly storing and getting rid of unused prescription medications protects your loved ones and the environment. Here are three easy steps:

1. LOCK: Store your medications in a lock box or locked medicine cabinet.
2. DROP: Drop off unused medication at a kiosk or at your local pharmacy or police stations. Find a location in your area.
3. MAIL:  Mail unused medication in a pre-paid envelope. Request a free mail-back envelope.

Treatment is Effective

Treatment might look different depending on the level that you need. Find the type of treatment that is right for you or your loved one, what to expect, how soon you can get help and the treatment services specific to youth, people who are pregnant or breastfeeding and older adults on our Treatment Options page.

There are a number of treatment options in your community. Find them, as well as answers to common questions you may have about treatment in the Chittenden County Resource Guide.

People Recover

There is no wrong door to recovery. It is a life-long journey that is not always a straight line. Find recovery opportunities and supports in your area on our Recovery page.

Local Highlights

We make local connections in the field of substance use, with partners and projects ranging from prevention to treatment and recovery. Engaging those partners varies from bringing information and data to a single meeting to collaborating on long-term projects which aim to prevent and reduce substance misuse in the region over time.

We do this by:

 
 
 
Last Reviewed: March 2, 2023

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WIC

WIC provides access to healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and referrals to health care and other community resources. You can trust WIC to be your family's nutrition expert during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood.

The Burlington Local Health Office promotes the health and wellness of women, children and families throughout their lives.

We work with many partners so that our communities will be a place where people of all ages and abilities can move safely and get healthy food.

We work with local employers to start worksite wellness programs. Programs that make it easier to live a healthy life are good for Vermont workers and good for Vermont businesses too.

We work to improve the health and well-being of school-aged children across Chittenden County.  We support supervisory unions, school districts, independent schools, community organizations, students and their families by helping with high-impact strategies that make a difference in health.

We work closely with families and medical practices to increase the number of people in Chittenden County who receive all their recommended immunizations.

We work with partners in Chittenden County to prevent disease. We provide education and other resources. When disease occurs, we work to identify it and stop it from spreading. We welcome your questions about infectious disease.

We strive to reduce tobacco use in Chittenden County by partnering with schools and community organizations.

The Burlington Local Health Office is trained and ready to respond to public health emergencies so that people in our community can stay healthy and safe.

Our local health office connects families to resources to help ensure a safe and healthy home environment that is free of exposure to lead, radon, carbon monoxide, mold, pests and drinking water contaminants.

Vermont continues to be one of the healthiest states in the nation yet we know there are always challenges ahead. To meet these, we track, measure, report on, and apply data in order to achieve our shared goals for improving public health.

We welcome your call! If you send an email, please include a subject line so we can be as helpful as possible. Our regular office hours are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We are closed on Vermont State Holidays.

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