Bright Futures - Barbour County

24/10/2025

24/10/2025

Last night, our youth coalition hosted a Pumpkin Carving Competition at 17 North. They had fun carving while also informing our community about the misuse and abuse of prescription medicine as part of the Dose of Prevention challenge. The event took place immediately after our coalition meeting so we all got to stay and take part. Congratulations to the Bright Futures Youth Coalition on their planning and ex*****on of their Pathfinder Pumpkin event.

Congratulations as well to our pumpkin contest winners, including Bryce Yost and Ezekiel Iwunor for People's Choice, Jake Merancio, Elly Lawrence, and Arianna and William Canfield for Most Spooky Pumpkin, and Bri Tenney, Brylie Jones, and Isabella Dalton for Most Creative.

In our surveys of Barbour County youth, a common complaint was a lack of things to do and caring adults. These teens set out to do something about it and get pumpkin all over themselves while they did it. Way to go!

15/10/2025

Our youth coalition has assembled a bunch of vegetables and carving implements to share who they are and why what they do is important. Come support teenagers working in prevention and gaining employment skills!

The Prevention Works Pathfinders have organized an event to get people out and covered in Pumpkin. Thursday the 23rd, from 5-7, at 17 North in Philippi.

The entry fee for pumpkin teams is $10. Pumpkins judged on spookiness, creativity, and fan vote.

Come support our youth coalition as they spread awareness and knowledge of teenage abuse of over the counter medications, while also showing off their skill with gourds!

09/09/2025

Free training tomorrow on adolescent use of opioids, stimulants, va**ng, and ma*****na.

Free training tomorrow at 10:30 AM via Zoom❗️

✅Describe current patterns of adolescent substance use, including opioids, stimulants, va**ng, and ma*****na

✅Recognize how substance use in school affects adolescents

✅Apply strategies for prevention, early intervention, and cross-sector collaboration to support youth

Register at https://danyainstitute-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/SGsSmM_yTHe_Nujf_RrfGw #/registration

05/09/2025

Check out this great opportunity for the youth in Barbour County!

28/08/2025

We are excited to return to our monthly meetings and reconnect with our youth!

We encourage you to attend this week's special meeting to hear from several of our youth who participated in the CADCA Mid-Year Training Institute.

We will also review our 12-month action plan for 2025 and 2026 and begin planning a Teen Expo in partnership with the Barbour County Family Support Center.

Tonight’s meeting will be a great opportunity for us to identify how we can each contribute individually to the work we do in the community.

20/08/2025

We are making one final push to get as many responses as possible. If you are a parent or guardian of a middle or high school youth, please consider taking this brief survey!

Thank you for helping us guide the work we do!

🌟Are you a parent or guardian of middle or high school aged youth in north central West Virginia?🌟
If so, WV Prevention Solutions wants to hear from you!

We’re conducting a short five-minute survey looking at barriers to youth involvement and issues concerning youth substance use prevention.
💻Click the link below and make your voice heard!
www.wvengagementsurvey.com

03/08/2025

Thank you, Tammy Zimmerman and Philip Barbour Athletics, for giving us the opportunity to speak to the fall coaching staff about Substance-Free Athletics. We look forward to working with your teams this fall!

02/08/2025

We had a great time handing out notebooks to the youth at the Bounce Back to School event! We were also able to hand out over 150 Parent Handbooks from Operation Parent. Bright Futures also sponsored an Android tablet as a door prize!

Thank you to coalition members Paula Daniels, Ian Tallman, and Josh Allen for coming out!

We look forward to speaking with the coaches at Philip Barbour High School tomorrow about our Substance-Free Athletics program!

Thank you to everyone for continuing to support the work we do!

28/07/2025

As part of Bright Future's work, we conduct a yearly Community Readiness Assessment on various substance-related topics and our community.

A community readiness assessment evaluates a community's preparedness to address a specific issue or problem. It helps determine the community's willingness, ability, and awareness to take action. This assessment informs the development of appropriate intervention strategies and helps pinpoint areas where efforts should be focused to improve readiness.

To complete this, we are looking for 4-6 people to speak with a representative from WV Prevention Solutions (our lead prevention organization). This interview should take approximately 15-30 minutes.

If you are interested in helping, please send us a message or contact Josh Allen at jallen@barbourhealth.org.

26/07/2025

Let your voice be heard! If you are a parent or guardian of a middle or high school-aged youth, please consider taking this short survey!

23/07/2025

This week is significant for some of the youth who are a part of the Bright Futures - Barbour County coalition. Eight youth, along with three adults, are attending CADCA's Mid-Year Training Institute in Nashville, TN. CADCA’s Youth Leadership training courses provide young people with skills and tools to help their coalition drive community-level change. Designed for youth ages 13-19, these trainings encourage participants to take youth-led civic action.

We are excited for them to come back ready to lead and make an impact in our community!