A Healthy Burlington Starts with You.

BPHC works closely with many staff in the Burlington School District on a variety of initiatives to support substance misuse prevention and health and wellness in our district. The Student Assistance Program (SAP) Counselors at the middle schools and high school are some of our strongest collaborators in this work. Mariah was excited to sit down with Hunt's new SAP, Marissa Stokes, to learn more about her and her plans.

This school year BHS Elevate, our new wellness campaign centering youth substance use prevention and mental health support, has entered its newest messaging phase “Stronger Connections, Stronger School.” Building and maintaining social connections with peers and adults helps ensure young people are better prepared to deal with stress, anxiety, or other difficult situations that often become drivers for substance use such as vaping nicotine and cannabis.

Even when BPHC staff are not working for BPHC they are thinking about substance misuse prevention and how to improve outcomes in Vermont!  For this reason, our Coalition Director, Mariah Flynn, recently completed her third Fellowship project with the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC).

The facts are clear, tobacco use carries health risks and secondhand smoke is dangerous. We’ve been working with MyHealthyVermont, Cathedral Square at Juniper House, and Champlain Housing Trust partners at Laurentide Apartments in Burlington to provide resources and support for maintaining smoke-free residences, including supporting residents with efforts to quit. To support these efforts we helped organize a new smoking cessation group for their tenants to help residents comply with their non-smoking policy and improve their own health.

We continued to offer students at Edmunds Middle School (EMS) opportunities to come together weekly this quarter to plan fun social and prevention activities for their peers.

Just six months ago our team launched an ambitious messaging campaign at the high school called BHS Elevate, which is framed for students as a movement designed to support and uplift one another to live healthy lives and achieve their goals.