By Judith Dorato O’Gara

On Thursday, January 8th, the Holliston Drug & Alcohol Awareness Coalition (www.hdaac.org) held its annual planning retreat for key stakeholders at Anthony’s on the Green in Holliston. “We had 27 participants which was super great,” says HDAAC Coordinator Zoe Moreau. 

Two pillars, she explains, are defined for HDAAC through the CDC’s Drug-Free Community Grant (DFC). First is collaboration with community and second is to ultimately reduce youth substance use. Both are achieved, Moreau believes, by “partnering and supporting your whole community.”

Moreau says when she began her position 2 ½ years ago, a few months after HDAAC first received the DFC grant. Although HDAAC had been in existence since 2015, she did not find a lot of recognition when she attended events. Nowadays, she says, “at least half the room is now raising their hand. It’s a big recognition, that ‘we know you exist.’ There may not be a huge amount of people who have used our services, but it’s a big win under the community investment piece.”

As for reducing youth substance use, Moreau says that, on average, youth substance use among Holliston residents is trending down, and Holliston sees a lower-than-average rate of use than other towns. 

“We track that biannually,” says Moreau, noting the statistics come from the MetroWest Foundation’s Adolescent Health Survey, most recently conducted this past November. Those results won’t be available for a couple months, she says.

“Holliston students are always doing better than the average MetroWest town,” she says. That’s not to say there is no substance use.

“Across the board, alcohol is always the highest substance use (among youth), especially with high school students. Something special in Holliston, we’re suburban, but we have rural areas, parties in barns, things like that. We’re really tackling parent responsibility in high party times of year such as graduation and summer.”

On the positive side, says Moreau, “I think vaping is very low. Time and again, I hear, especially from middle school students, they’re really proud to be health-conscious students. They don’t want to see vapes in their school.” She attributes this to students wanting to make their parents proud. 

Student engagement with HDAAC is also on the rise, says Moreau. The Youth Action Team at Holliston High School currently has 42 students, with a large share being sophomores. Moreau, in fact, has taken some of those students to Beacon Hill, and one, in fact, now serves on a statewide leadership board. Moreau will also be taking nine of those students to Capitol Hill to advocate for their peers.

“There’s always room for more education,” says Moreau, adding, “All of the people sitting in big tobacco, big cannabis, big alcohol, all are making billions of dollars, and they spend so much money marketing to your kids. They’re not resting. Our existence is to try to combat all of the effort they’re putting in to try to hurt you and be that shield.”

While student involvement is up, however, HDAAC has had a tough time getting parents involved. “Our challenge is always getting parents involved, both on the Coalition itself and coming out to events,” she says. HDAAC has promoted community events to only have a handful of parents show up, so now, she says, the organization will “to try to meet people where they’re at. We try to show up at events at the school and implement any quick education we can. Instead of hosting our own one-hour trainings, we show up for five minutes.”

HDAAC also works to reduce stigma in its educational outreach.

“A big thing we like to talk about is erasing stigma. It’s not anyone’s fault for picking up these substances. They are so incredibly marketed to young people; we should not be mad at people in general if they are struggling with substances. We should be working with them and showing lots of compassion,” says Moreau.

Moving forward, she hopes to raise HDAAC’s engagement with students in middle school and their parents, because, she says, “They really are the perfect age to start talking to them about (substance use).”