Ideas for Raising Awareness
COA WEEK February 10 - 16, 2008

The Big Picture: Join with like-minded organizations in your state to persuade your governor and state legislators to make an official proclamation of Children of Alcoholics Week 2008. Or do this on a local level by having your mayor or county administrator proclaim the week for your local jurisdiction. Announce it with as much fanfare as possible, including a kick-off press conference and whatever TV or radio events can be produced. Work with the official’s public affairs office to focus attention on the signing event and the reasons for the proclamation.

Another Big Picture: Celebrate Children of Alcoholics Week 2008 by getting the word out in your area – information dissemination – using materials already developed. Call or, better yet, visit the offices of child-serving or other like-minded organizations that will be open to celebrating Children of Alcoholics Week. Ask them to display Children of Alcoholics Week materials in their public areas and to include public service announcements (PSAs) in their publications. (Call NACoA 1-888-554-2627 for sample PSAs.)

Possibile Targeted Activites
Contact individuals and organizations that can help bring public awareness and focus concern on children of alcoholics and drug addicted parents. Consider especially those who may also help with your own organization’s agenda.

• Elected officials. Visit your mayor, county executive, or legislator to persuade him or her to get the governor to proclaim [your state’s] Children of Alcoholics Week 2008, or to proclaim [your city or town’s] observance of the event. NACoA can provide a sample proclamation which you can customize to fit your locality.
• City or county managers. Use facts about addiction and its impact on families to dramatize the potential costs to local governments. They may be persuaded to sponsor preventive programs – youth mentoring programs, student assistance programs in schools, or support programs in health clinics – because they can reduce costs and save money in the long run on expenses for health care, human services, and criminal justice. NACoA can provide copies of basic fact sheets. Another excellent source: Dr. Alison Snow-Jones’ article, “COAs and Economic Costs” When you visit these local officials, also offer them COA posters and pamphlets for display in offices and locations where they convey health promotion messages to the public.
• Health care professional associations and managed care organizations. Contact your community’s health care professional associations (hospital association, medical and dental society, nurses’ association) and managed care organizations. Ask them to feature Children of Alcoholics Week in their publications.
• Health care providers. Contact hospitals, health clinics, and physician groups in your community. Ask them to display posters and brochures in waiting rooms and professional lounges. Also give them “Do’s and Don’t’s for Children of Alcoholics,” and the pamphlet It’s Not Your Fault! to help their own conversations with children.
• Educational associations. Ask the school board, superintendent of schools, local teachers’ association, association of school counselors, association of student assistance professionals, and/or association of school librarians to display posters and the pamphlet It’s Not Your Fault! in the secondary schools. Encourage them to make literature about family addiction available in school libraries. Direct them to NACoA’s Web site www.nacoa.org.
• Recreation workers. Contact your local parks and recreation department administrator. After-school and “vacation playground” programs offer good opportunities for one-on-one contact with young people, but recreation workers need guidance about how to respond to those who confide in them. Leave behind the posters and pamphlets and refer them to NACoA’s Web site www.nacoa.org.
• Child welfare professionals. Contact your local child welfare agency to be sure they know of the materials NACoA has available on the problem of family addiction. Encourage them to hang posters and have pamphlets out for easy pick-up.
• Counselors and mental health therapists. Contact your community association of alcohol and drug abuse counselors and the local mental health association. Provide them with posters and brochures and let them know NACoA can offer them additional materials for children’s support groups. Call their attention to the NACoA-developed Children’s Program Kit, which is available at no cost from www.ncadi.samhsa.gov. Click on “Quick Find and Send,” then click “Children of Substance Abusers,” click Publications, then click CPKit-D. You can also order additional posters and pamphlets that can be displayed and distributed in community and clinical settings.
• Human resources personnel and employee assistance program (EAP) managers. Remember the major employers’ human resources departments in the community and State. These managers may be especially appreciative of information on the long-term costs of family addiction such as that in Alison Snow-Jones’ article, “COAs and Economic Costs.” (See reference above in “City or County Managers”.) Be prepared to let them know about support groups available for employees struggling with family addiction. They may be willing to publicize Children of Alcoholics Week in payroll inserts that go out to employees. Feel free to refer them to NACoA for more materials and information.
• Faith communities. Ask your community’s faith-based organizations to participate in Children of Alcoholics Week. Ask them to acknowledge Children of Alcoholics Week on their web site or in the weekly bulletin. Visit at least three congregations and ask them to put up the poster and distribute the brochures that accompany the curriculum and handbook, “Spiritual Caregiving to Help Addicted Persons and Families,” previously sent to each NACoA affiliate. Other copies can be made available. Clergy may be inspired to address a topic related to Children of Alcoholics Week in a sermon. NACoA’s fact sheets may help (See above reference in “City and County Managers.”)