Ipswich Aware is a program of the Ipswich Family YMCA. Donations should be made payable to the North Shore YMCA to support Ipswich Aware.
Mission
We promote awareness, education, and prevention of unhealthy substance use in our community. We seek to reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorder and addiction. A coalition of concerned citizens and organizations, we bring our caring and expertise to the issue of substance use in Ipswich and surrounding communities.
Steering Committee
- Dr. Brian Blake, Superintendent of Ipswich Schools
- Rev. Brad Clark, Rector, Ascension Memorial Church
- Dave Clark, Ipswich Business Owner
- Colleen Fermon, Ipswich Public Health Director
- Julia Parisien, Ipswich Resident, HR Professional
- Officer Joe Perna, Ipswich Police
- Chris Nadai, Essex Resident, YMCA Board Member
What Is This All About?
Growing up and finding one’s place in the world has never been easy. Guiding our children to adulthood and keeping them safe has always been difficult, especially during the teen years. But nowadays these challenges are much harder. We have been isolated by the pandemic. We are facing more strife and uncertainty in the world and the expanded media magnifies their impact and keeps it in our faces 24/7. Social media has also changed the way we relate to each other. The result of all these new challenges at once is unprecedented stress for children and families.
So it is not surprising that our youth are experiencing an alarming rise in serious mental health issues. With that we are seeing more substance use, overdoses, and even tragic deaths, especially with the increased prevalence of deadly fentanyl. Traditional means to address these problems are overwhelmed.
We need to do more to support our youth, parents and caretakers during these challenging times and our program provides a chance to come together as a caring community to help keep our kids safe and healthy. Prevention may be our most powerful tool.
What Can We Do?
Ipswich Aware has put together a program to help parents and caretakers to communicate more effectively with their children to help them through the challenges and avoid the pitfalls that they face as they grow up.
We have turned to a proven effective program produced by the national Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration called “Talk.They Hear You” which provides tips, programs, and support in numerous ways to guide parents about effective communication approaches. Information from that program will be disseminated through the Ipswich schools, Board of Health, library, ICAM, YMCA, and churches as well as online from the link above, via the program app, and also through their podcast.
