Bonnie Shuman has been coming to the Ohio Statehouse for three years to advocate for families struggling with FASDs. But, really, she’s been advocating for families like hers for 28 years.

It was 33 years ago that she and her husband Thom saw a photo of a young boy, about 18 months old, who needed a family to adopt him. They agreed to open their home to Teddy, who has FASD.

FASDs are a group of conditions that occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They can cause a range of issues, the CDC says, including hyperactivity, learning disabilities, speech and language delays, problems with the heart, kidneys, or bones, and others. FASDs can cause these issues to become more profound.

“There are a lot of symptoms of FASD, and they vary from person to person just like they would in other diseases,” said Bonnie. “The important thing to know about FASD is there’s no safe amount of alcohol to drink. And it’s 100 percent preventable.”

Our two most recent coffee klatsches—on the role of prevention in addressing systemic racism and school reopenings—can be found on our YouTube page.

Ohio's Virtual Recovery Series will kick off on Sept. 29. Presented by the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities in partnership with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Cardinal Health Foundation, the series will highlight important issues related to recovery from both mental illness and substance use disorders and provide opportunities for learning and connection for those in recovery, their loved ones, and behavioral health professionals.

The first event will feature Zack McDermott, author of Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love. Zack will share his story of diagnosis and treatment for Bipolar Disorder, the crucial role his family plays in his recovery, and how COVID-19 has impacted his recovery. Participants will also hear from an Ohioan in recovery on their journey to wellness.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health will host the 2020 Suicide Prevention Conference: Innovations, Interventions, and Specialized Populations on September 29 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A panel of expert presenters will examine health care utilization before suicide; share research and knowledge about implementation strategies, measures and outcomes to the Zero Suicide Model; identify key assumptions of emergence and pathways to suicidal behavior; and discuss tools, resources and strategies needed for suicide prevention.

There's no doubt about it. School will look and feel different for teens across the United States. Whether teens in your community are going to wear backpacks and masks to sit in desks at school or they're going to wear headphones and sit in front of computers at home, it's going to be difficult on them, teachers, and parents.

To help, we compiled expert recommendations on how to ensure that homeschooling is less stressful. Those recommendations are featured in the latest Know! Parent Tip—Know! Six R's for Less Stress Homeschooling.

September is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Month, and September 9th is International FASD Awareness Day.

The whole month of September is a key time to raise awareness about FASDs. To help you raise awareness about FASDs during FASD Awareness Month, we've collaborated with Aubrey Page, CEO and FASD educator at FADaware LLC.

Aubrey created a social media kit to help you raise awareness about FASDs on social media, and she updates those resources on her Trello board. Additionally, she is interviewing experts about FASDs, which you can find on her YouTube page.

Each year, from Oct. 23-31, individuals, schools, and communities across the nation show their commitment to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle by wearing or displaying a red ribbon. This annual event offers a great opportunity to raise awareness of the problem of drug misuse. Red Ribbon Week started more than three decades ago, following the death of Enrique "Kiki” Camarena, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who was killed by drug traffickers. The DEA and the U.S. Department of Education encourage schools and communities to participate in this year's Red Ribbon Week. To virtually promote and support this year's event, the agencies developed an online toolkit including downloadable graphics, a fact card, student and parent pledges, and ways to promote Red Ribbon Week.

The Great Lakes PTTC offers free resources, training, and technical support to prevention professionals in the Great Lakes region, and they want to hear from you. What kind of support do you need to offer services in the COVID-19 environment? What challenges are you facing? How can they help?

Register today for the listening session taking place on Wednesday, September 9, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. EST.

For more information, contact Julia Alexander, Great Lakes PTTC Co-Director.

NNY360, a news organization comprised of several New York-based newspapers, penned an editorial praising the Alliance for Better Communities for working through the COVID-19 pandemic to carry out their annual Parents Who Host Lose The Most campaign. In their own words, “We commend the Alliance for Better Communities and its partners for spreading this crucial message. It demonstrates their commitment to saving lives by confronting underage drinking.”

For our part, we’d like to join NNY360 and the Watertown Daily News in their praise of the Alliance for Better Communities. Now is a crucial time to support young people, who are dangerously stressed by the dual demands of school and a pandemic. That’s a toxic enough mix without adding alcohol into it.

As we’ve seen now for the last several months, e-cigarette companies are using COVID-19 as a marketing gimmick for their products. Now, a study in BMJ Tobacco Control has found more than 300 advertisements used pandemic-themed advertisements. Here are a few more of the study’s key findings:

The authors also noted that e-cigarette companies are making shows of their support for public health for lobbying purposes.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?