NEWS FROM… The Courage to Speak® Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ginger Katz
January 30th, 2020 OFFICE PHONE: (203) 831-9700

NEW Free Online Parent Drug Prevention Training Launched by The Courage to Speak®Foundation

The Courage to Speak® Foundation is proud to announce the launch of our NEW Online Parent Drug Prevention Training Module. Under the 2018-2020 State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), the Courage to Speak® Foundation was asked to adapt our live parent drug prevention education program, Courage to Speak® – Courageous Parenting 101 “Parenting Through the Opioid Crisis and Beyond”, into an interactive Online Training Module. With this grant from the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Courage to Speak® Foundation developed this new program to be available to all parents for FREE!

Parents are in desperate need of drug prevention tools in order to combat this opioid and drug crisis, reduce problem behaviors among their children and enhance their children’s and school’s achievement. With the opioid epidemic affecting over 1 million youth and accounting for nearly 68% of the total 70,237 drug overdose deaths in 2017, as reported by the CDC, it is critical for parents to start the conversations about the dangers of drugs with their children.

This new Online Parent Training Module will allow the Courage to Speak programming, trainings and presentations to have a further reach than ever before, ensuring that parents are equipped with the skills necessary to keep their children safe from the dangers of drugs. Parents learn about the drug and opioid epidemic happening in America, how to tell the signs of drug use, how to effectively communicate with their children about the dangers of drugs and much more!

Results collected from the live Courage to Speak® – Courageous Parenting 101 program showed parents had an increase in: knowledge about the dangers of opioids and other drugs among adolescents, confidence in knowing how to talk to their teens about drugs, understanding the importance of talking to their children about drugs, knowledge about how to recognize if their child was using drugs, and confidence in teaching their children how to refuse drugs.

Accessible from anywhere at any time, parents will have the ability to login to the Courage to Speak website and complete a skills-based training on their own schedule. Through video lessons, informative presentations, handouts and interactive activities, parents learn the knowledge and skills they need to protect their children through the opioid crisis and beyond. 

To access this Online Parent Training Module, please visit https://couragetospeak.org/courageous-parenting-education-module/

CLICK HERE to view the flyer for the Online Parent Training Module.

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About the Courage to Speak® Foundation:
The Courage to Speak Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit organization based in Norwalk, CT, whose mission is “to save lives by empowering youth to be drug free through fostering education and open communication about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.” Ginger Katz founded the organization in 1996, just months after her 20-year-old son Ian James Eaccarino died of a heroin and prescription drug overdose. She and her husband Larry Katz pledged that they would do all they could to help prevent such a tragedy from befalling another family. Since then, Ms. Katz has given nearly 1000 presentations reaching hundreds of thousands of individuals – young people and the adults who care about them. The Courage to Speak Foundation developed drug prevention programs for elementary, middle and high school students as well as parents through Courage to Speak – Courageous Parenting 101®. Ms. Katz also has authored a prevention book called Sunny’s Story. A book for children of all ages; parents, grandparents, teachers, and others. Visit www.couragetospeak.org.