Early Intervention

Early Intervention is a prevention strategy targeted at individuals and groups at risk of developing substance abuse problems. It focuses on youth who, because of their family situation, individual characteristics, or environment, have risk factors known to be correlated with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. Because early intervention is more intensive and specialized than, say, educational campaigns about the dangers of drug abuse, it is not used for large populations of people. The term "early intervention" refers not only to prenatal and early childhood interventions, that is, "early" in a child’s life, but also to those strategies that work with young people of all ages who are just beginning to exhibit serious behavioral problems, including substance abuse. Specific resources on the Early Intervention StrategySite:

Early Intervention: A Strategy for Prevention Practitioners - A 20 page paper on early intervention: what it means as a prevention strategy and how you can incorporate it into your work as a prevention practitioner. It addresses Benefits of Early Intervention, Starting Early In Life, Skill-Building and Early Education of Children and Youth, Family-Based Skill-Building, Intervention for Troubled Youth, and Therapeutic Interventions for Youth and Their Families.

Early Intervention Fact Sheet and Illustration (Webpage,  Acrobat 2 pages) An early intervention fact sheet that describes ways in which early intervention is used in substance abuse prevention, plus an illustration—a real-life example of early intervention in action.

Early Intervention Resources An early intervention resources section

Early Intervention video transcript—Transcript of a video featuring "I Can Problem Solve," created by CSAP's Northeast CAPT and used in trainings.

Multiple Strategies video transcript— Transcript of a video, featuring the Gloucester Prevention Network, created by CSAP's Northeast CAPT and used in trainings.

CSAP's Northeast CAPT Prevention Framework - Key elements used to support the application of science-based substance abuse prevention programs and strategies at the regional, state and local levels. This framework guides our work by defining major areas of consideration in science-based prevention providing a broad overview of the theoretical foundation of a comprehensive prevention approach guiding practitioners through a clear program planning process. This diagram lays out both the elements and the processes necessary for effective prevention approaches.

Prevention: What's Science Got to Do with It? (Webpage, Acrobat 24 pages) A digest that provides information on all seven of the prevention strategies.

Improving the Larger Environment (Webpage, Acrobat 16 pages) An overview that provides more information on environmental change as an effective approach to prevention.

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