Substance use has a dramatic impact on the nation’s health and well-being, costing the United States over $467 billion per year.(1) Alcohol and drug use among youth is particularly damaging because of the impact that these substances have on brain development during adolescence and young adulthood. Youth who use alcohol and drugs in their teenage years are at increased risk for developing substance use disorders, as well as myriad health and social problems associated with alcohol and drugs. Prevention and early intervention services can youth help limit substance use, and encourage them to make choices about alcohol and drugs that improve their health and well-being.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has collaborated with UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse Programs to create this website, which is designed to serve as a resource hub for service providers, youth, parents, and administrators interested in implementing substance use prevention and early intervention initiatives in their communities. In particular, the site provides links to resources that can be used to assist in the implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for adolescents. SBIRT is a public health approach to substance use that facilitates the identification of individuals who are using substances in a risky manner, the delivery of brief intervention services designed to facilitate positive behavior change, and referral to treatment for individuals with substance use disorders. SBIRT and other prevention services can be delivered in diverse settings where youth receive services, such as medical centers, schools, and justice programs.

Please note that the aim of this website is not to provide a comprehensive resource list or links to all of the resources and links dedicated to substance use prevention and SBIRT. A huge number of effective and helpful resources dedicated to this topic exist online, and a website that lists them all would be so large that it would be difficult to use. Thus, instead of providing links to all available resources and websites, this resource hub highlights a select number of resources that organizations participating in the Conrad N. Hilton’s youth substance use prevention initiative have found to be particularly useful as they have developed and implemented their programs. Our hope is that by directing visitors to resources that Hilton-funded programs have found to be especially helpful, we can promote the widespread adoption and implementation of successful prevention, early intervention, and SBIRT services for at-risk youth nationwide.

If you have any questions or comments concerning this webpage or would like to learn more about prevention and early intervention services for adolescents and young adults, please contact Ms. Elizabeth Teshome at eteshome@mednet.ucla.edu

1: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2015). Guide for Policymakers: Prevention, Early Intervention, and Treatment of Risky Substance Use and Addiction.