Co-Occurring Disorders Awareness (CODA) – Prevention Curricula

Building on the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) Co-Occurring System of Care efforts that began in 2017, the Partnership and the harris project worked together to build an innovative primary prevention curricula aimed at meeting the needs of high-school-aged youth with or at risk of developing co-occurring disorders.

The Partnership collaborated with an independent curriculum developer and Stephanie Marquesano of the harris project to disseminate modern mental health and addiction literature into co-occurring disorders curricula meant for high-school-aged youth, their parents/caregivers, and staff/teachers. Stephanie Marquesano and Nicholas Kontz conducted preview sessions this past summer at Greenburgh’s Woodlands Middle High School to test out the first iteration of the parent and student courses; partners continue to iterate on the materials before a wider pilot launch this coming fall (2024).

A widely adoptable and modular research-based health class unit with accompanying professional development and parent outreach materials has been developed and awaits evaluation via Pace University. The hopeful outcome is to educate youth, their parents/caregivers, and the staff that serve them on the topics of mental health and substance use, leading to more global access to and awareness of resources for such. School districts and communities continue to request our project’s involvement and advisement in spending opioid settlement dollars to address stigma, bolster community health, improve outcomes.