Positive community norms

Jeff Linkenbach from Montana State University gave the opening plenary and provided a workshop about the Positive Community Norms Model for prevention during the DFC New Grantee Training last week. Below I touch on a few of the ideas he shared.

At the beginning of both sessions, Dr. Linkenbach asked everyone, "Are we busy or are we effective?" Are we changing our communities or are we transforming them?

He talked about prevention as an act of leadership and presented seven core actions of positive leadership:

Be positive

Be present

Be perceptive

Be purposeful

Be perfected (learn from mistakes and share what was learned)

Be proactive

Be passionate.

Dr. Linkenbach is well-known for the Most of Us campaigns using the Positive Community Norms Model. A message that these campaigns promote is: most kids make healthy choices but exceptions do exist.

He also spoke about bringing together spirit, science, and action when communities work to reduce youth substance abuse. Together, they create synergy that can lead to community transformation.

He provided several examples of "spirit" and shared the following negative ad:

Though they are not videos for substance abuse prevention, he shared the following with us to provide examples of spirit:

Where is Matt? (as an example that good already exists in all of our communities)

Embrace Life

Substance abuse prevention ads using positive social norms may be viewed on the Most of Us website.

Other coalitions in WA

Prevention Works in Seattle (formerly NE Seattle Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking) is one of twelve coalitions in Washington funded by a SPF-SIG grant from the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA). DASA's February edition of "Focus" highlights the activities and accomplishments of a few coalitions in eastern Washington.

Asotin City Council Supports Youth Coalition (page 8) describes how the city council in this town in the southeast corner of the state voted to support the vision, mission, and goals of their local coalition.

The Science of the Positive: Social Norms Marketing (last page) describes how three coalition's are working with Jeff Linkenbach to create social norms marketing campaigns.