Join us for the 2026 Northland Prevention Conference!

Sleep is a Superpower

Presented by Michelle Lane

The sound of the alarm clock--That’s a sound we are familiar with and what that awful sound does, is stop us from doing the single most important behavioral experience that we have, sleep. If you're an average person, 36 percent of your life will be spent asleep, which means that if you live to 90, then 32 years will have been spent entirely asleep. Yet, for most of us, we don't give sleep a second thought. For most of my life I have tolerated the need for sleep and thought of sleep as an illness that needed some sort of a cure. Well, it's because you don't do anything while you're asleep, right? You don't eat. You don't drink. And so, therefore it's a complete waste of time, right? Wrong. Actually, sleep is an incredibly important part of our biology and neuroscientists are beginning to explain why it’s a superpower. Sleep directly affects our relationships, life expectancy, libido, weight gain, cardiovascular health and more! Learn the science behind the value of sleep and how to leverage this superpower.

Strategies to Influence Community Change

Local action has the power to create lasting change. Through discussions with two local leaders and a community member who led a grassroots effort, this workshop explores how to effectively engage with local leaders, influence decisions, and create meaningful change in youth substance use prevention. The session will also highlight past successes where community initiatives sparked local and state-level change. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for engaging local leaders, tips for building relationships, and inspiration from real-world examples of youth and communities driving lasting change.

Traction: Teens Taking Action to Prevent Traffic Crashes

Presented by Tyler Lueckenhoff

In this session, participants will learn about the Traction program. Traction is a youth traffic safety leadership program sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT). The aim of Traction is to bring awareness to road safety through a set of summer conferences, one-day workshops, and a Reunion and Exposition. This program targets young adults from high schools all over the state of Missouri and focuses on engaging in safe driving and leadership development.

Potent, Legal-ish, & Everywhere: A Look at Today's Evolving Drug Landscape

Presented by Jennifer Rhoad and Kyra Fuchs

Today’s substance landscape is changing faster than most prevention teams can track. From intoxicating hemp and 7-OH derivatives to ultra-potent nicotine and alcohol products, youth are encountering new pathways to impairment that often slip through legal and regulatory gaps. This workshop will simplify what these products are, why they matter, and how to communicate the risks with accuracy and confidence.

Strong Together: Tools to Power Your Community Coalition

Presented by Kym Laube

Strong, effective community coalitions are built on trust, shared purpose, and meaningful collaboration. This interactive workshop explores practical team-building tools designed to strengthen relationships, enhance communication, and increase collective impact within community coalitions. Participants will learn how to intentionally build connection among diverse partners, address challenges such as burnout and disengagement, and create inclusive spaces where all voices are valued. Through hands-on activities, real-world examples, and facilitated discussion, attendees will gain strategies they can immediately apply to improve meeting effectiveness, decision-making, and long-term sustainability. Whether your coalition is newly formed or well established, this session will provide adaptable tools to foster cohesion, align goals, and reinforce a culture of shared responsibility. Participants will leave with renewed energy, practical resources, and a deeper understanding of how strong teams drive successful prevention and substance misuse efforts across their communities.

Prevention in Action: Designing Communities for Safety and Health

Presented by Officer Jeffrey Krebs

This interactive course demonstrates how Drug-Free Communities (DFC) prevention strategies and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) can be aligned to create safer, healthier environments for youth and the broader community. Participants explore the DFC framework, including the Strategic Prevention Framework and the Seven Strategies for Community Change, with an emphasis on moving beyond program delivery to addressing the physical, social, and policy conditions that influence youth substance use. The course introduces CPTED fundamentals—natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement, and maintenance/ownership—using real-world examples to illustrate how environmental design impacts behavior. Participants examine the intersection of DFC and CPTED by analyzing how policy, youth engagement, access reduction, and physical design elements such as lighting, visibility, landscaping, and layout can reduce risk and increase protective factors. Through interactive exercises and real-community scenarios, participants apply prevention strategies and CPTED principles to identify environmental risks, design prevention-focused solutions, and identify key partners needed to implement change, equipping coalitions and community stakeholders with practical tools to support long-term safety, health, and positive youth outcomes.