by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
A free presentation called “TXT4Life” will be given from 6-7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9 in the Multi-Purpose Room at Sartell Middle School.
This is the second of four programs sponsored by the Sartell-St. Stephen Drug-Free Coalition – one program each month September through December.
The TXT4Life program with speaker Molly Wiemann is a free, crisis-based suicide-prevention texting program that provides counseling 24/7 every day of the year. Counselors help the texter get to a safe emotional and physical place and then direct the person in trouble to helpful community resources. The texter can choose to remain anonymous.
The Drug-Free Coalition’s programs focus on substance abuse, its causes and ways to prevent the terrible scourges of addiction and abuse.
Other programs include the following: an upcoming Nov. 13 “Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force,” the recently renamed task force which investigates crimes involving narcotics, prostitution and gang behavior, as well as other forms of violent offenses; Dec. 11 “SCSU’s U-Choose,” an education-based prevention effort to share resources to help ease these conversations with youth, as well sharing a data-driven, evidence-based approach that works to empower students to make informed choices and understand the consequences of high-risk drinking and drug use; the September “Generation X” to inform people of all ages about the potential dangers of misuse of prescription medications; and the October “TXT4Life” a free, crisis-based suicide-prevention texting program that provides counseling 24/7 every day of the year. More in-depth write-ups of each may be found at www.thenewsleaders.com.