San Rafael, CA — Underage substance use is much higher in Marin County compared with other California counties, and local parents need to fully understand the facts before their children head back to school in the coming days.
A new community education toolkit called Let’s Talk is available now and should be considered assigned late-summer homework for parents of preteens and teens. Let’s Talk addresses the risks, hyperlocal conditions, and protective factors of underage substance use. New editions are tailored toward parents of incoming sixth-graders and ninth-graders, and both can be found on LetsTalkMarin.org.
Let’s Talk is a collaboration between the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE), the RxSafe Marin grassroots coalition, the Marin Prevention Network, and Marin Healthy Youth Partnerships. The Ross Valley School District contributed to the launch of the sixth grade booklet.
The annual California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) asks students about their access to substances, their use, and perceptions of risk. Aggregated CHKS data from 2017 to 2019 reveals that 49% of Marin's 11th graders reported they have used of alcohol or drugs in the past 30 days, more than double the statewide average of 23% for 11th graders. Additionally, the reported substance use rate among ninth graders in Marin is 25%, much higher than the statewide average of 15% for that age group.
“This is an effort to reduce the number of parents who are caught off-guard by the social pressures their kids will face,” said Kathy Koblick, Marin HHS’s Public Health Division Director. “the better-informed parents are about the latest trends and the substances out there, the better they can help their children navigate these waters. The Let’s Talk materials will provide facts that will really help families have important conversations that could be life-saving for our youth.”
In August, printed versions of Let’s Talk booklets are provided to every sixth-grade and ninth-grade family in Marin public schools in English and Spanish. Throughout the school year, the program contributors conduct a series of Let’s Talk community discussions that are led by topic experts and local students.
“There is nothing more important to our schools than the health and well-being of our students,” said Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools. “We know that all of our children need guidance, support and encouragement that will help them make healthy and positive choices, and that families need resources to support their children, especially those experiencing social-emotional challenges. Distributing the Let’s Talk booklet helps ensure that families, schools, and our community partners are working together to support the children of Marin.”
The new edition of Let’s Talk created for sixth-grade families is a toolkit for understanding substance use in Marin through middle school years and focuses on establishing a foundation of steady parental support that teens can rely on currently and into their future. The booklet provides detailed information about the challenges middle school students experience, which include puberty’s physical and emotional changes, teen brain development and the pressures, anxieties and complexities of today’s youth culture that impact mental health and substance use.
The Let’s Talk edition for new high school families includes important information on teen access to substances, parent/caretaker roles, local conditions, drug facts and risks associated with teen substance use. The goal is to equip parents, caretakers, and individuals who work with youths with greater knowledge so they can conduct safe, compassionate and informed conversations with teen.
Annika Danne, a junior at Redwood High School, shared her own experience.
"When I was in middle school, I experienced the struggles and challenges that middle school kids go through on a daily basis, as described in the booklet,” she said. “Therefore, I understand how important parents are during this time of our adolescence. I advise them to connect with their teens and realistically discuss the new and possibly scary situations their children encounter as middle schoolers.”
Digital versions, details on Community Discussions, related information, and cited research can be found on www.letstalkmarin.org.