Since 1986, Ray Lozano has educated and entertained thousands of students in hundreds of middle schools and high schools from Alaska to Florida, and internationally in the Cayman Islands and Ethiopia, Africa. He has a talent and gift for conveying what could be construed as boring drug and alcohol prevention information in such a fun and humorous way that his audiences come away informed and entertained. The best analogy would be giving your kids medicine in a spoonful of sugar. There’s a good reason that his audiences feel like they just came back from the Improv rather than from a “lecture.” Ray Lozano has performed stand-up comedy at the Improv in Hollywood and Ontario, CA. It is his background in comedy that keeps his audiences coming back time and time again. The fact that he has been asked to return to some of the same schools across the nation, some for as long as 23 years, speaks to his ability to keep information updated, fresh, and relevant. Lozano’s varied experience professionally has equipped him to become the unique speaker that he is today. His career started out by being educated at the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute, where he saw firsthand the ravages of drug use in young adults. Upon graduation, he began working as a Site Director Assistant with Teen Challenge Imperial Valley. Having never used drugs or alcohol, this was an eye-opening experience to see firsthand the deleterious effects that drugs have on a young person. He saw how drugs stripped away a person’s full potential from what they could have achieved in life. From working with people fighting their way back from addiction, he realized he wanted to work with kids before they got involved in drugs and alcohol, which led him to his work in prevention. As a vice principal at a private elementary school, he launched a successful afterschool program with an emphasis on promoting a family-oriented, drug-free philosophy. Ray Lozano was the program specialist for the Youth Alternative Solutions at a major children’s hospital in southern California. YASP provided drug and alcohol awareness classes for youth ages 14-18 which helped to increase the adolescent’s knowledge of effects of drugs and alcohol on the body, consequences of risky behaviors, alternative choices, the addictive process m, and the self-efficacy of making life choices. The program’s hope is to help decrease the incidence of injury to adolescents and to provide positive behavioral choices, referrals, and various resources when needed. He is the founder, speaker, and trainer of Prevention Plus and is training youth and adults nationally and internationally in drug prevention, current drug information, and parenting skills in order to successfully help the child be drug free. Of note, Ray Lozano is very skilled at effective planning and implementation of community development with prevention strategies, extended project formatting, and organization growth and goal planning.
Building Your Coalition One Step at a Time will focus on the key steps to ensure a successful and sustainable coalition. How does a coalition establish the norms - how will we operate, how will we involve members, what about by-laws, meeting agendas, the rate of coalition staff, how will youth fit in?
Current society is filled with messages on the harmlessness of marijuana. How are teens supposed to make sense of the competing messages between their parents, teachers and adults and what they see in the media and their friends? This workshop cuts through the partisan information and provides unbiased, scientific facts. This informative and entertaining workshop will cover: • History of marijuana use. • The question of marijuana use as a natural substance. • The short-term and long-term effects of marijuana on the adolescent body (lungs/heart/reproductive system). • Youth use versus adult use.
To be an effective prevention advocate you have to want for all children what you want for your own children. Education is the key to prevention. With emerging drug trends and future health concerns, it’s important to stay informed. This session will take attendees through an interactive hands-on learning experience with popular substances among youth. Additionally, attendees will learn about resources and how to support those seeking help. Come curious and leave empowered to collaborate among sectors within your community and develop solutions to prevent addiction!
Solutions cannot be waiting on legislation. Solutions start with education and engagement from the ground up. Learn how to create a system that will engage your community and start the prevention process.
Leonard Webb, former Law Enforcement Professional turned Youth Advocate has a passionate desire to see people reach their full potential. As a popular speaker, he has spoken to schools K-12, Universities and Colleges, Youth Sports Camps, and Law Enforcement Agencies. He trained... Read More →
Over the past three years there has been an extraordinary level of funding directed to prevention, treatment and recovery, especially for opioid-related problems. This workshop provides specific suggestions for increasing your success in grant writing. What needs assessment data will get the reviewers attention? Which partners are essential to getting funded? What are most effective strategies available to address the problem? How can you make your proposal stand out? Come and learn the answers to all of these questions and more, from a presenter with over $100 million dollars in funded state, foundation, and federal grants.
This session will discuss the impact of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)’s National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW). The annual week of national observance was launched to mobilize communities in hosting educational events to inform youth about drug misuse and addiction.
This session will provide a discussion on social marketing best practices in order to define success. Through this session, participants will learn the basis for assessment, planning and implementation from a marketing perspective.
This presentation is designed to help raise awareness of the negative influences of street gang culture and will address the impact the entertainment industry has on the growing prevalence of gangs in the United States. The target population for this presentation is Law Enforcement officers and prevention professionals who wish to gain more knowledge about gangs and current industry influences. The presentation will cover the dangers of street gangs and youth violence, grooming of prospective gang members, child and female sexual exploitation, myths surroundings gangs and street culture, and the influence of the entertainment and music industry. The presentation aims to raise awareness and provide a greater understanding of the nature of gangs and peers who participate in gang-related activities. Participants will leave the presentation with a better understanding of the definition of a gang, the meaning behind rap music, and the influence on the gang culture. Rap is the culture stone of expression and communication among today's youth.
Three out of four teens who think they will escape vaping will not. Only one escapes nicotine addiction. Vaping among teens is an epidemic. Hear from two prevention specialists who implement SBIRT (screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment) to intervene early in the lives of youth. With alarming trends arising from seizures, popcorn lung, and other health reports, it’s important to stay informed. This interactive presentation will cover education on JUULs and other popular vaping devices among youth, including visual displays. Additionally, attendees will learn about resources such as youth intervention and cessation programs, screenings, and nicotine replacement therapy.
Researchers and educators have long agreed that when parents get involved in all areas, children try harder and achieve more at school and home. Too often parents are ignored or viewed as part of the problem, rather than a resource of prevention. Parents who develop the skills to encourage their children delay the use of drugs and alcohol, help develop positive attitudes toward life, and contribute to the personal growth and academic success of their children. This interactive parenting session will explore the importance of parents as prevention agents.
Medical and public health professionals, laboratories, and the criminal justice system continue to battle the far-reaching effects of America’s opioid crisis. There is concern that the ever-changing black market of “designer opioids” has become the new normal and is taking lives at an alarming rate.
Tammy Pawloski has led more than 1000 professional learning events for teachers, school leaders, and stakeholders. She understands the challenges and opportunities of teaching, and has devoted the last fifteen years to the study of children of poverty—why they struggle and which strategies have the greatest impact. Pawloski is a noted expert because of her breadth of knowledge, however what resonates most with teachers and school leaders is her ability to deliver an uncommon combination of research, practice, and compelling stories from the field that both empower and challenge.
Life with limited resources can negatively impact achievement and life success, but the good news is that we can matter more! The latest research from neuroscience provides direction for intentional moves that can dramatically and positively shift the downward trajectory. This discussion-style session will provide opportunities to think strategically about the challenges and opportunities that accompany an active partnership with families and schools on behalf of under-resourced children. Attendees will take away new ideas for communication, engagement, and authentic support for community service providers, schools, and the children and families they serve. Learn how to reframe challenges as opportunities for uncovering hidden potential.
Few health-related topics have generated more controversy than the subject of e-cigarettes and their potential to reduce the burden of tobacco-related disease in the United States weighed against the alarming rise of youth use and increased youth nicotine dependence. This session will review the changing landscape of the variety of tobacco products marketed in the United States and review current evidence of the risks and harms associated with e-cigarette use by youth as well as the risks and potential benefits for current adult smokers. Evidence-based prevention practices will be presented and legislative and regulatory policy will be discussed.
This program will help the participants understand the progression from prescription opioids to heroin and fentanyl. Different ideas about what is useful and not useful in dealing with this crisis will be discussed.
World Ranked: After being paroled from prison on December 13, 2008, Tony Hoffman started living out his dream, with his addiction behind him. Tony is a former BMX Elite Pro and placed 2nd at the 2016 World Championships in Medellin,Colombia, in the Masters Pro class. He is a 2016 Rio Summer Olympics coach with women’s BMX Pro Brooke Crain in his lineup. His story is full of redemption as he has seen some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. Tony is the Founder and Director of The Freewheel Project, a nonprofit organization that mentors thousands of youth through action sports - BMX, skateboarding, and afterschool programs. The Freewheel Project focuses annually on teaching kids leadership skills and making healthy life choices, including substance abuse prevention. The Early Years: Tony has been sober since May 17, 2007. His BMX career started in high school and he was a top-ranked BMX amateur with multiple endorsements. As a native of Clovis, California, where he attended Clovis High School, Tony started drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and using prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin by his senior year. His life took a turn for the worse as he became addicted at such a young age, losing everything. In 2004, Tony committed a home invasion armed robbery and was ultimately sent to prison for two years in 2007. Tonyunderstands the despair addicts go through as even a ten-year prison sentence threat could not stop him from using during his probation. During his time in prison, Tony began rebuilding his life and as soon as he was released, he utilized thepositives and negatives in his life to get to where he is today. Today: Tony is a changed man and inspires so many to live their life with purpose. Tony has dedicated his life to bringing awareness around the country, describing how dangerous prescription pill and heroin abuse are, as well as advocating a shift in thinking toward current addiction/recovery processes.
Addicts face a multitude of stigmas, of which, during his 11 years of sobriety, Tony Hoffman has continued to experience. The goal of this presentation is to discuss how to eliminate stigmatic barriers beginning with early childhood through the dark years of addiction, and specific to him, followed by many years in recovery. He speaks of his early teenage struggles with mental health which he considers as a key player in his active years of substance use. He truly believes that every addict has experienced a certain level of trauma or mental health issues that contribute to his/her substance use. Also, he feels that society’s lack of acknowledgment and empathy for addiction issues create a struggle in effectively helping the addict. If there is one thing Tony makes sure the audience understands, it is that addiction is beyond a choice. Listeners will get a raw, in-depth look from the addict’s state of mind. His doorway analogy that depicts the struggle of returning once you enter, resonates with all of the audiences who take part. The biggest stigmas Tony faced were not so much during his active use but occurred when he began to dream of something more for his life, something big, and without substances. The judicial system, employers, community members and internet commenters have all confronted Tony and judged him based on these stigmas, the same stigmas that made it hard for Tony’s parents to seek help and/or understand it was okay to have a child struggling with addiction. Tony has beaten the odds one day at a time and dedicated his life to bringing hope that recovery is possible and how critical it is to break down the stigmas, thus shifting our thinking about addiction.
Universal prevention interventions that focus on reducing a variety of risk factors and bolstering protective favors across all individuals in a population have the greatest overall impact on reducing substance use and its related harms. However, planning and implementing environmental and policy strategies at the population level can seem like a daunting task. Utilizing the Strategic Prevention Framework, this workshop will explore specific environmental and policy strategies to reduce youth substance use. Case studies of successful community-wide efforts will give real word examples of putting these principles into action.
Designed to empower, engage and educate. While providing the tools, techniques and information that will assist individuals, institutions and organizations who work with or are seeking to work with black males (particularly those who may be deemed at risk). Understanding the complex issues and needs associated with serving and assisting this population.
This session will explore understanding how goals activate crucial brain regions that influence human behavior in youth. We will discuss how to use this information in adolescent drug and alcohol prevention and recovery.
A lot of people talk about success and its definition. The problem is they never talk about how to get there, how to become successful. This presentation follows the presenter’s book Pathway to a Positive Mental Attitude: 17 Steps to Success. In this session attendees will discuss the steps to success of definite purpose, mastermind alliance, applied faith, pleasing personality, and personal initiative. By the end of this workshop, attendees will be well on their way along the Pathway to Success.
Being sober use to be something people hid from the world because there was a negative connotation for struggling with substances. But there’s a change happening where being sober is becoming a new and powerful movement! As more people are being affected by addiction, many are willing to speak out about it and break the stigma. No longer do we have to hide in the shadows of our pasts or feel isolated from others around us! We get the opportunity to SHINE brightly today, to thrive in sobriety, to connect deeply with others on the same path, and to change the world with our message!
Do you use PowerPoint or other slideshows to present information to an audience? If you print your slides as a handout of your presentation, then this session is for you. The presenter will review best practices on how audiences learn and retain information. Participants will be taught immediately implementable steps to create slides that are clear, easy to process, and likely to be remembered.
Hi! I am Geo Sarra, founder of Better Brain Consulting. My background is in psychology, and I have been working in public health for more than a decade. I hail from the nonprofit sector where I worked in both HIV prevention and substance abuse prevention. My expertise are all things... Read More →
The Opioid Prevention Network (OPEN) is a faith-based initiative created under the Mitchell-Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force coalition which aims to foster regular communication between clergy, the medical/prescriber community, and non-pharmacological pain management practitioners in order to expand opioid prevention efforts from the supply side of the opioid equation to the “demand side.”
How many times do we hear that youth problems begin in the home? And yet, trying to get parents to attend a program can be frustrating. What does the research say about parent participation? What are the most effective strategies for working with parents? How can we bring more cultural competence to our work with parents? Come and learn a simple set of recruitment strategies linked with 90% retention rates.
Professionally, CMSAF (Ret) Lefford Fate has led, mentored, and served thousands of military members and their families. He spent nearly 31 years in the US Air Force. Lefford served as Command Chief for the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, SC, and as the lead advisor and mentor for 5,000 personnel in 19 squadrons and tenant units operating 85 F-16 planes. Prior to that post, he served as the Command Chief for the 505th Command and Control Wing in Hulbert Field, FL. He is a past recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal with four devices; the Air Force Commendation Medal with one device; the Air Force Achievement Medal/ Meritorious Unit Award; the USAF Outstanding Unit Award with Valor and six devices; the Air Force Recognition Ribbon/Numerous Campaign Medals for service in Southwest Asia and the Global War on Terrorism; the SNCO (Senior Non-Commissioned Officer) of the Year; and, the Mental Health SNCO of the Year (Europe). Since retiring from the military, he was the program director for a geriatric mental health program, Director for Health Services for the SC Department of Corrections, and is currently the Director of Support Services for the City of Sumter. He is a best-selling author who co-wrote, along with Jack Canfield, the book Success Starts Today. Even with all these accolades, he states that his greatest accomplishments are being a husband, father, and grandfather.
