December 9, 2021 |
The new head of prevention services in Carbon County introduced herself to Saratoga Town Council Tuesday night. Tracy Young told the council that she is replacing long-time specialist, Sally Patton, who retired recently. Young said she will be the new point person for substance abuse and suicide prevention programs, which are funded by block grants from the state to county boards of commissioners around the state.
Pictured above: File photo of Saratoga Town Hall. Photo by Emma Diercks/Bigfoot 99.
Prevention services have existed in the state for about 20 years. The model of how it has operated and been funded has changed during that time. From 2012 to about 2018, for instance, most prevention services were run through the Prevention Management Organization headquartered in Buffalo. Concerns over how much state money stayed with upper management personnel rather than going to local street-level programs led the legislature to defund the PMO. In its place, funding is provided directly to counties under block grants from the Wyoming Department of Health for programs aimed at preventing suicide and abuse of alcohol and drugs.
Funding for prevention programs has become evidenced based and data driven. In the past, the state more or less threw money at problems hoping something works. As part of this new, more formalized strategy, Young shared the results of a survey conducted by the state health department last year. The handout she provided at Tuesday’s meeting shows that 20 percent of youth in Carbon County had used alcohol in the previous 30 days. About eight percent of high school students had used marijuana. Young said the most active program at this time in Carbon County focuses on suicide prevention. Her office recently held a two-day suicide prevention skills workshop in Rawlins recently.
Young said her goal is to tailor programs that fit the needs of each community in the county rather taking a top-down approach.
Funding for existing programs runs out in June. Young said she is working with various communities to find out programs they can take advantage of over the next six months.
In the meantime, Young will be using other data collection sets to secure grant funding for prevention services in the county for the next funding cycle. Former prevention specialist Sally Patton told Bigfoot 99 that she is grateful for the way Tracy Young has jumped into the fray and taken charge of the program here.
