Cara Gresham has joined the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition as a summer graduate intern for 10 weeks.
The San Juan Island Prevention Coalition was one of eight Drug-Free Community coalitions in the U.S. chosen to have a 10-week summer graduate intern funded by the federal government. There are currently 746 Drug-Free Communities in the U.S., with San Juan Island Prevention Coalition being the only Drug-Free Community mentoring coalition in Washington state.
The Prevention Fellowship is a pilot program run through the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and is paid by the federal government.
“I am excited about working in the prevention field on a local and national level,” Gresham said in a press release. “I am hoping to strengthen the coalition’s outreach to providers of mental health and chemical dependency. My specific interest in the mental health field is co-occurring disorders.”
Gresham comes to the coalition from Bellingham, where she was working as a case manager in community mental health. She will be beginning graduate school this fall at the University of Washington. She will be working for the coalition full-time through the end of August. Her work will focus on developing and marketing a prescription drug take-back plan for the island and hopefully, for the county. She will be working closely with Sheriff Bill Cumming and other coalition board members and community members to institute this program.
“I found Cara to be a responsible and caring person during her tenure at Compass Health, and am looking forward to working with her again,” said Brad Fincher, chairman of the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition.
Gresham’s time with the coalition, under the mentoring of San Juan Island’s prevention coordinator Cynthia Stark-Wickman, will be focused on helping the coalition in a variety of ways.
“I hope to learn a lot and make a positive impact to the coalition and San Juan Island.”
Contact Gresham at 378-9683 or cara.preventionsanjuan@hotmail.com. Contact the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition at the same phone number or prevention@centurytel.com.
