• By Hannah Phillips
• Posted Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Youth Overdose Prevention & Awareness Training Event

Behavioral Health Services will host an informative interactive training on opioid overdose prevention and awareness for youth ages 12–18 on July 8 from 6–7:30 PM in the second-floor conference rooms at the Highland Avenue Center, 650 Highland Ave. Parents are welcome to join an optional, simultaneous discussion on communicating effectively with youth about drugs and wellbeing.

Registration is required for this event. You can register here.

The event comes at a critical moment with both progress towards prevention and a continued danger from opioids. U.S. drug overdose deaths dropped by 24% between October 2023 and September 2024 to about 87,000 according to the CDC. Provisional CDC data from 2024 shows a 26.9% decrease in overdose deaths from the prior year, but young people remain highly vulnerable (CDC Media Relations, February 25, 2025).

Despite these gains, the risk of overdose among youth persists. Between 2019 and 2021, overdose deaths among adolescents (ages 10–19) more than doubled, with 84% of cases involving fentanyl, according to the CDC. Experts cite fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills as a significant threat (CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, December 16, 2022).

This training aims to equip youth and parents with knowledge, prevention strategies, and practical skills, including the use of naloxone, to help save lives.

References:

• Drug Overdose Deaths Among Persons Aged 10–19 Years — United States, July 2019–December 2021 | MMWR
• CDC Reports Nearly 24% Decline in U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths | CDC Newsroom
• Drug deaths among people in the U.S. under 35 are plummeting : NPR