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Former Initiatives

Connect CT

Connect CT is a Congressionally grant funded program provided by SERAC to support the wellness and community engagement in 13 rural towns within Eastern Connecticut. Supports are provided to Ashford, Bozrah, Canterbury, Chaplin, Columbia, Eastford, Franklin, Hampton, Lebanon, Lisbon, Scotland, Sprague, and Union.

Health pandemics, racial inequality, and economic change can have negative impacts on human behaviors, health, and behavioral health. Connect CT hopes to reduce the number of drug related deaths and suicide deaths across rural communities by increasing prosocial supports, enhancing community driven early identification, providing intervention activities, and providing information for local supports and resources.

Connect CT was designed around SAMHSA’s 8 dimensions of wellness and focuses on overall wellness of citizens and their community. Promoting emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, financial, physical, and environmental wellness to reengage communities that may have experienced hardships due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Former Mental Health Awareness Training Grant (MHAT)

In 2018, SERAC received the MHAT grant to expand training to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental disorders, particularly serious mental illness to help improve early intervention. The grant also works to enhance linkages for referral to appropriate services and educate individuals about resources that are available in the community for individuals with a mental health disorder.

Former Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (STOP Act) Grant

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)

SERAC received their second STOP grant in 2016 to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults ages 12-20 in communities across southeastern CT. The activities in the project address community norms regarding alcohol use by youth, reduce opportunities for underage drinking by limiting youth access to alcohol, supporting underage drinking enforcement efforts, addressing penalties for underage use, and/or reducing the prevalence of negative consequences associated with underage drinking (e.g., motor vehicle crashes, sexual assaults).

Former Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut Foundation

In March 2019, SERAC was awarded $1500 to support the 13th Annual Youth Forum in spring 2020. The purpose of the Youth Forum is to unite middle school youth from around the area and to help them be more successful in making healthy decisions. The Youth Forum is open to all middle school youth from SERAC’s region of Eastern Connecticut. Each year 75 to 100 middle school youth from throughout the region have attended the Youth Forum each year. Each year the program includes interactive, large group presentations focused on substance use prevention, diversity, stress management and resiliency.

Former EVERFI Prescription Drug Safety

In October 2018, SERAC was awarded a grant to implement the EVERFI Prescription Drug Safety Curriculum in local high schools to raise awareness about the risk factors and warning signs of prescription drug misuse and addiction. Local mini grants were provided to communities and schools to implement the programs and host community forums.

Prescription Drug Safety is an innovative digital course that arms students with the knowledge and skills to make healthy, informed decisions when it comes to prescription medications using an evidence-based, population-level approach to prevention. Through interactive scenarios and self-guided activities, students learn about a range of topics, including the science of addiction, how to properly use and dispose of prescription drugs, and how to intervene when faced with a situation involving drug misuse.

Click here to request a demo of the program for your classroom or youth program.

Former Drug Free Communities Grant

In 2006, SERAC received the DFC grant to support regional coalition efforts in southeastern CT.

The goals of the grant are to:

  1. Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, public and private non-profit agencies, as well as federal, state, local, and tribal governments to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance use among youth.
  2. Reduce substance use among youth and, over time, reduce substance use among adults by addressing the factors in a community that increase the risk of substance use and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance use.