Prevention Profiles: Take Five - Dave Closson M.S.

[Music] thank you [Music] hi everyone I'm rich Lucy senior prevention program manager here at the drug enforcement administration's community outreach and prevention support section and welcome to this episode of prevention profiles take five very excited about today's guest a repeat guest but we haven't had him on and oh at least a couple years or so and some things have changed in that time we'll tell you about that so let me announce that Dave Clawson is today's guest and he is the founder and owner of djc solutions a modern day consulting company with a combined focus on serving substance misuse prevention professionals law enforcement officers and military veterans across the United States he is the author of motivational interviewing for campus police and was chosen as one of the few Veterans of Foreign Wars hashtag still serving Heroes Nationwide Dave was the very first director of the Mid-America prevention technology Transfer Center in launching the pttc he served as a prevention Catalyst empowering individuals and fostering Partnerships to promote safe healthy and drug-free communities Dave also previously served as assistant director of the Illinois higher education center for alcohol other drug and violence prevention and Dave brings a unique experience to substance misuse prevention having served as a university police officer at Eastern Illinois University Dave was deployed as part of operation Iraqi freedom and while spending a year in Iraq with his infantry battalion and his Recon team he earned the combat infantry men's badge and was awarded two Army Commendation medals one for Valor and one from eritorious service and with that Dave welcome to the podcast thank you very much for that introduction and the invitation to join you for another conversation always a pleasure absolutely and of course I always have to thank you for your service and we're going to talk a little bit about that but uh we got to talk about your news first uh I said you know things have changed over the last couple of years and I think the biggest change happened just a couple of weeks ago you became a new dad yes oh my goodness absolutely a nice little uh five and a half week surprise I came a little early but doing great and loving every minute of it and I like to tell folks that I've been training my whole life for this moment especially working in prevention and that's kind of shaped and prepared me for fatherhood so I think yeah well we also know that in prevention you need to be flexible so I'm thinking that's true in Parenthood so you know there's that parallel there yes indeed yes indeed great well we're going to just jump right in um and uh you know the first question um is about your personal story uh I know it we've talked about oh on and off camera you know before uh share that with our viewers so you're very open about sharing your personal story of suffering a traumatic brain injury and challenges that you faced with PTSD and alcohol misuse following your combat deployment and with June being PTSD Awareness Month I'd like to touch on that as we get started so what would you say to the prevention practitioners our viewers who need to be mindful of this when working with students who have recently returned from a military deployment or maybe not but still are suffering with PTSD and they're struggling with these issues thank you for that question and it is such an important one and just a little context for folks uh that may not have gone back to listen to the Past episode where I really shared my story but I was deployed to Iraq when I was a junior in college and like you said rich I had that traumatic brain injury from being hit with an IED being blown up after that year-long deployment I jumped back into college right away while I was struggling with that traumatic brain injury post-traumatic stress in a alcohol so that's a little background in context into kind of my story and why I get very very passionate about this topic because it is oh so personal to me and for our listeners I really would start with really trying to understand the unique culture of the military I mean it is a world all into itself the language the customs of values and when veterans service members returned to civilian life it it literally feels like stepping into a different planet more or less jumping right back into college even and for our listeners that do work with with these Brave individuals take some time be intentional about understanding the culture and how that understanding can really create a a bridge of empathy Rapport and Trust and I also want to encourage our listeners to really acknowledge the lack of a better word the shadow that often follows us as veterans that that stigma around mental health and substance misuse and I know I experienced a bit of fear that admitting to my struggles would harness my my reputation or my my time on campus or even my careers and as prevention professionals really working to create safe spaces and emphasize confidentiality and trust and work to really normalize seeking help that is one of the big reasons why I share my story of my struggles and my growth and my my journey to help normalize that it's okay to seek help and I I can keep going on there's a couple other things I want to just touch on too because this is such a personal topic to me absolutely yeah but when you consider consider strategies for helping definitely want to keep in mind trauma that veterans may have experienced and Trauma impacts us all differently and you want to make sure your approach is trauma informed you know recognize the signs and craft your strategies to to avoid re-traumatizing those individuals but also still promoting healing and just like my story veterans don't exist in a vacuum and neither do our struggles of PTSD alcohol misuse substance misuse that's all often coexist co-occur with other physical or mental health challenges so it is vital that you really adopt that holistic approach and consider the whole person and all of their needs oh yes and peer support I know that's a big topic on campuses and it is incredibly powerful when it comes to Veterans because there's that comfort in shared experience and having having support when you're thinking about support don't forget about the families they they are an oh so important key part of their support network and if you can involve their families it'll create that that additional layer of support but I also go on the flip side as you work with your Veterans as you engage your veterans well we've got some amazing skill sets discipline routine goal-oriented Mission oriented selfless service oriented and tapping into those to helping build up those positive strengths can really help us feel like we belong and thrive on campus and I'll hit pause uh because I like I said I'm so fired up about this and I could talk about it for days but just remember art Veterans as well were all diverse we each have our own unique backgrounds our own unique identities and so have cultural humility cultural competence in mind as well and just uh talk to us yeah you know that's why I opened up the interview with that question I mean because it is um it is a very big part of of you uh and your identity and and in other words some things that you mentioned um that I want to touch on you know first I I come back to a strategy that I know you are a prevention strategy that you are well versed in uh and that you promote and used in probably what some thought was an unorthodox setting which was law enforcement and of course I'm talking about motivational interviewing and you know words that you said you know in communicating with and conversing with um again people um from the military they're coming back from the deployment I heard the words you know empathy active listening and trust and that is you know that's motivational interviewing in a in a nutshell right there right um but it seems like prevention practitioners who especially are trained in that but I think are naturally situated with that skill set wouldn't wouldn't you think maybe they just have to hone it even maybe a little bit more yes absolutely uh somewhat general statement but I feel like it comes almost natural to prevention professionals being that we care and we want to create that inviting inclusive safe campus environment for all of the the students and I would just encourage them to to be intentional it's easy Alibi it's easy wink wink cough cough when you're having an MI conversation to be intentional about empathy and that active listening but also I encourage you bring that into your your day-to-day conversations with students with Veterans as well make it make it a point to make that a part of your everyday communication practices you've got that skill you all got it so just lean into it you know the other thing that you that's really I feel underlying this whole conversation is and you mentioned Mental Health you know we know that more and more students are coming to campus with pre-existing mental health conditions we've known that for several years even before the pandemic we were seeing that that Trend and I know that when I do my presentations and such and a lot of that was born out of the work that I had done while I worked at csap with our colleagues in the center for mental health services at samhsa it's it's because alcohol and drug misuse is so closely aligned with mental health right I mean it's you really kind of have to have both things uh you know as part of the conversation absolutely I could jump on a soap box and just get so fired up about that especially when it comes to to serving veterans what I see a lot of times folks may be talking Suicide Prevention or mental health and then a different group organization will be talking substance misuse and they need to be talking together it needs to be one conversation it we don't exist in vacuums and neither do those those problems so I want to move on to my next question which is another aspect of your career um and that was law enforcement as I mentioned in in your bio and and looking back over your career as a campus police officer and then devoting the majority of your uh efforts in prevention how do you see law enforcement and prevention working together this is a fun question for me to answer because I can think back to when I was a new police officer and if you had to ask me then like yeah I don't know um I enforce traffic DUIs uh write citations I didn't really get it and through community policing through engaging with students engaging with other departments on campus I began to learn and it really did start with community policing and what I mean by that is finding opportunities to build positive relationships with the students and as prevention practitioners prevention professionals y'all can partner with law enforcement in these initiatives offer your expertise and Community engagement open the doors invite law enforcement to engage with you together whether it be education awareness programs as well working together on presentations on training to gather anything from drug and alcohol misuse bullying Online safety violence prevention the opportunities really are endless and when I talk about training not just for for campus but for yourselves there is a lot of opportunity to cross-train with law enforcement and prevention professionals you all can learn from each other so sit by side by side in the training room whether it be prevention strategies Crisis Intervention techniques I mean you can benefit from understanding the law enforcement perspectives protocols challenges and they will also benefit from understanding your strategies your approaches what you have in your prevention toolbox as well and two more things I'll touch on here um data talk about the Strategic prevention framework data driven prevention share your data with law enforcement help them hone in on their their patrol strategies their community outreach strategies they've also got data that can help guide your prevention strategy your prevention efforts as well and it's not just arrest or citation data when I was on foot patrol and midnight shift and who are the hot spots were I knew where the main walking travel corridors where students would walk home from the bars I knew where those darker areas on campus were along those travel paths where it might be a higher risk area and so informing prevention folks about that that's data as well that can you can use to inform your prevention strategies so talk to them and that last one still holding true with post-traumatic stress disorder mental health collaboration law enforcement often counter individuals in crisis and so as prevention professionals collaborate with them help them be better equipped to de-escalate to direct individuals towards the appropriate Mental Health Resources provide that warm handoff as well to help Empower those officers to then better serve and better support the students as well so over the course of your time as a campus police officer are there any specific success or challenge that stands out to you that you experienced during that time yes uh there's some fun videos out there on YouTube from a nice little success story being the eiu Mayhem prevention team and that's our campus police our local city police are housing counseling center and health education resource center and our student conduct office all came together to create a a YouTube and poster marketing and video series all around campus safety we shared resources we shared knowledge we shared expertise and had a bit of fun as well that those are memories that I will never forget um yes I mean I got to repel off of a building on campus while wearing a three-piece suit in one of our school blue Spirit wigs as a part of my job I mean how cool is that uh were you thinking about that as you were repelling down the building yes I was like I'm getting paid for this it it also helped that when I was in the Army I went to air assault school so I got to repel out of helicopters and all that stuff so I Was An Old Pro edit but it was a blast um One Challenge though I kind of hinted on it earlier is that helping law enforcement know where and how they fit into the big picture that is prevention and it really does start with just conversations um I believe Rich you use the 100 cups of coffee analogy but it really does early on I would walk foot patrol and I was tasked with walking foot patrol for my eight hour shift that could be really boring if I just walked in Circles by myself and didn't talk to anybody so I went and I talked to folks and began to learn what other departments mission was their goal what they did and as I learned as they taught me I began to see how our missions how our our goals aligned and overlapped and how we could support each other have those conversations and I I want to you know also uh plug one of our Publications that we produced a couple of years ago it's one of the brief supplemental resources to our strategic planning guide called prevention with purpose and that supplement focused specifically on campus police public safety personnel and just as you said you know where they fit in in the prevention picture if you say and and you had a a big hand in the development of that supplement so I want to thank you for that but it's one of the reasons that we uh developed and produced you know that along with nine other supplements and and three more to come over the next year it's it's helping these specific audiences on campus and in the community figure out where they fit in we we say it all the time everybody's responsible for a role in prevention this helps them figure out where that role is it's just what you said absolutely absolutely and I can't believe I haven't said it yet during this conversation you already know what I'm going to say but prevention is better together and it's helping create that culture of togetherness because we all do have a seat at the table we all have a role in prevention The More We Come Together around that conversation around prevention the better off our communities our campuses our students will be so as I move to my next question you have a long history of helping colleges and universities with strategic planning which we know that's the foundation for Effective prevention efforts one aspect of strategic planning do colleges and universities struggle with the most and and what guidance do you give them so how much time do we have yeah right alone could be its own interview own conversation own training it is it is a big one colleges and universities face a a lot of challenges and can be as simple well I shouldn't say simple it could be simply aligning with the Strategic objective or the the mission of the university and anything from even just stakeholder engagement effectively using data managing resources that'll oh yeah budgets resources wherein how many different hats now working in prevention but you could probably say this just as well if not better than me but using a structured intentional process is the key to addressing all of those challenges all of them you've got to use a structured intentional process even when it comes to aligning with the mission you want to make sure your your strategic plan does reflect the core values and the mission of the institution it's okay to revisit the mission statement and every goal and every action in your strategic plan you should be able to tie that back to that that mission in that example when I was at the Mid-America prevention technology Transfer Center which I still have to practice saying um we had our work plan but we had our bigger mission was to create a culture of community across our four state region so that we could come together and support each other in our prevention efforts and I was able to to articulate to tie how our communities of practice all of the training workshops the podcast we have as well all supported and aligned with that bigger picture of creating that culture of community so you can do that as well just on the campus how does one of your programs your initiatives your marketing campaigns your social norms campaigns align with support the institutions big picture objective and Mission kind of going down that too you know stakeholder engagement you and I have talked about this at conferences and it is oh so important if you want to have effective prevention programs and you want your strategic planning process to be inclusive that means inviting engaging all stakeholders in the process not at the end when you're ready to implement you might include faculty staff students I'm gonna say that again students alumni and the community because their input is is valuable for that that balanced well-informed perspective and building their buy-in is also important for success and you want to be intentional about how you gather how you engage and how you incorporate their feedback and data data data you've had other guests on past episodes that are data Pros data experts but be sure to use that data-driven decision making and the example I shared earlier about my data as a police officer walking foot patrol it might not be captured in a survey but that's data too we're keep an open mind when you go to collect and even just gather what data is already out there and I know I mentioned resource management every strategic plan does need to be realistically achievable with the resources you have the financial resources the human resources the physical resources take that into account and I'll use this moment to just say don't forget about sustainability as well when it comes to strategic planning talk about it at the beginning what can you do to sustain your efforts and just like fatherhood uh just like you mentioned as prevention professionals we have to be flexible it's okay to periodically review your strategic plan you might have to Pivot likely we'll have to Pivot might have to flex but be intentional about checking back with it reviewing it on a regular schedule regular frequency to make sure it's still relevant and it's still effective and lastly for this one I mean like I said this is another one I could go on for a long time but strategic planning it's not a one-time event it's not a one-time activity it is an ongoing process that requires that regular review regular adjustment But be sure to keep your process structured and intentional and keep your mission in sight because it can be done it can be done yeah I mean we know that each of the spiffs five steps come with their own set of challenges we know that and the two underlying foundations you mentioned sustainability and certainly cultural competence and cultural humility there are challenges around there I want to hone in on one um capacity building because that's often a a step of the Strategic prevention framework that I hear people are struggling with but as we talk about in the guide I know you've presented on this before capacity building really comes down to resources and Readiness all right it's the two r's I want to focus in on Readiness can you talk a little bit about what that means in terms of capacity building yes so how ready how eager and willing are your stakeholders your community members ready to address ready to to stay take steps no matter how big or how small those steps might be and that what can come into play when it comes to readiness what is it their knowledge or awareness of the issues at hand I mean as prevention professionals we're looking at the data we're always thinking about it and because it's part of our job right it's a big part but our other stakeholders might not be as aware of what's Happening you talk to a faculty member that is only on campus during the daytime they might not know what goes on on a Friday night a Saturday night at say one in the morning their awareness might not be as high as say a police officer that works midnight shift on the weekends and so if you think about how ready they are to take steps to say yes we need to do something gonna be different because of their perspectives their insights and kind of where they're at with their awareness so my next question is something that you you just touched on and I want to drill down a little bit further on and it's about stakeholders and and their involvement what strategies do you suggest to keep stakeholders actively engaged because we know mobilizing a coalition is one thing but maintaining a coalition is a whole other thing and especially long term right I mean energies you know ebb and Wayne and they they hit highs and lows so what what advice do you have for folks on keeping people engaged oh this is such an important one and it ties like you just gonna spoke to directly back to sustainability as well and engaging your stakeholders in the strategic planning process is crucial because it's going to ensure that you capture and incorporate all of their diverse perspectives which will lead to more effective and more inclusive outcomes and when I talk about diverse perspectives we often just go to their position or their role there on campus but think about them as a a whole person there's more to them in just their position title they may have lived experience they may have family member or friends with lived experience directly impacted by the the topic at hand for your Coalition your efforts and also there's thinking style this is one that I've been talking more and more about and not just because of their diverse thinking style perspectives but if you want to create a more engaging more inclusive conversation with your stakeholders I encourage folks to consider their the personality the thinking style as well in that is really I'd say there's five thinking Styles there's your database thinkers they appreciate the facts the data just the just the facts you have emotive thinkers that like to you know they think first about the people the feelings how how does it make them feel how is it going to impact the good maybe the not so good you've got your Visionary thinkers which sometimes folks may actually label me a Visionary thinker coming up with the innovative ideas the suggestion seeing all the opportunities that are there and you've got your critical thinkers yeah buts what about this what about that did you think about this oh I don't know about that but they bring that that critical eye that we need to make better informed decisions and you've got your action-oriented folks that say just tell me what to do what are the next steps and so when you're engaging your stakeholders keep in mind how are they showing up what kind of thinker are they because if you if you don't create conversation if you don't create space for each type of thinker that individual might withdraw might check out I tend to be an actually very emotive thinker I want to see hey how are you feeling how are you doing what's good in your world but if we come to our Coalition meeting our task force meeting and it's all right let's get down to business here's what we need to do without the chance for me to check in and feel heard share what I like what I don't like or even just have small talk that's going to impact my engagement I might want to disengage or if it's a meeting just for the sake of meeting and there's never any action items or next steps those action-oriented folks may actually disengage a little bit as well and so you want to create space and engage all different thinking Styles so folks can share their voice and feel heard can feel valued and be included and that's going to lead to more informed better decisions and ultimately more effective and more inclusive outcomes as well and I could go on and on about regular communication frequencies keeping them informed updated but that's the the biggest one is having the inclusive conversations inclusive meetings not just based on position or title because that's going to lead to collaborative decision making that's going to lead to really recognizing and valuing each individual's contribution because you do need all thinking styles to make those better informed decisions you need them acknowledging recognizing and just really being inclusive in your strategic planning inclusive in your conversations inclusive in your stakeholder engagement it's where it's at because that's going to excuse me that's gonna really drive home and promote that sense of ownership and commitment to the prevention efforts and yeah something I'm also passionate about hence why I'm kind of rambling so I'll hit pause oh it's okay you know it's the first time I've actually heard you um identify and elaborate on these five types of thinkers and I am going to steal this and we do that in prevention right I I say we beg borrow and steal all the time in prevention um you know there's a I I don't even want to call it a sixth type but when I heard you talk about the critical thinker it made me think of the cynical person right and and it's not so much a thinking but you know you have they're they're likely not part of the Coalition maybe they are but it's the naysayers it's the folks that that will never work that can't work here how much I mean you don't want to dismiss people like that but I'm of the mind that all right maybe a little bit of energy to try and make your point but I don't think you can spend too much energy because I I'm of the thought that maybe changing their mind getting them on your side might be futile what what is your what is your thought on that in terms of the cynics in the group oh we could we could have a great conversation here in that I would encourage folks to give them a voice let them share that oh that'll never work let them be a cynic it's okay because as you you let them be heard they'll feel valued and they'll feel included and that you know you don't need to come at them with uh I need to change your mind you're wrong I would invite them into the conversation with all the other stakeholders and know that their perspective behind that that cynicism there might be some wisdom there might be some insights and so I would I would encourage our prevention leaders our prevention practitioners to bring more of a facilitative leadership approach in that create the space bring the process and let let the group The stakeholders all share and through that process that cynic will be heard you'll feel valued they'll be included but the group will ultimately lead to the decision the the implementation of whatever your decisions may be so don't dismiss them but also don't challenge them invite them and let the group wisdom work through and lead the group to that decision whatever it may be um yeah we could we could go into that quite a bit well it's great advice and thank you for that because we know from Decades of prevention science and and working on these issues one of the basic tenets of coalitions is that people will support what they help to create right and so I liked what you said about don't stifle The Voice we do want to hear from all the voices um and I didn't want to come across as saying you know to dismiss the individual but um I think that you know cynics can sometimes derail the efforts and that's where I was saying you know you need to find that balance of of letting the voice be heard but as you said you know walk in that fine line ensuring it doesn't get you off track of your strategic planning yes absolutely and the important of including their voice is if you don't they're going to still share their voice somewhere right and that's where it could really derail your efforts or strategic planning if you don't create space and intentionally let them share their voice because then later on down the road you're at implementation for example and boom here here it comes out of left field so to speak um yes finding that finding that line and letting them know that hey their voice has a seat at the table here's where it fits into our process but then staying true to that intentional process that data driven process that really does incorporate all stakeholders voice voices absolutely great advice and I can't believe we're at the the end of the interview uh already uh because I feel like we've packed so much in the interview uh but like you said this could spider web into now like eight different other episodes right uh on all the different topics that we talked about but I want to give you the opportunity as I do all the guests on the podcast uh with the final question and that's the advice you know you've given a lot but I mean you know this is your last opportunity in this episode what's the advice you want to give our viewers around collaborating with law enforcement Personnel uh and you've touched on it earlier but it Bears repeating and reiterating here what do you what advice you want to give them around collaborating with law enforcement Personnel who are working to prevent drug misuse from a college students all right um if I had to sum it up into just a few key pieces of advice I would say establish Foster and nurture open communication that that really is one of the most crucial aspects of collaboration developing those relationships with your law enforcement understand their approach share your perspectives and build mutual resp respect and that all starts with communication and at the heart of that communication really does come down to building that mutual respect and support recognize and appreciate the work that law enforcement does because they do play a crucial role in maintaining safety in their efforts really can complement your prevention work and I already mentioned it but yes include law enforcement in your strategic planning in your all of your planning invite them to the table it all starts with a conversation and an invitation whether that be joint programming strategic planning shared training like I mentioned before as well starts with a conversation and an invitation just remember that that the goal is a safer and healthier campus environment and working together respecting each other's roles having that open communication and Trust we can all be oh so more effective in preventing drug misuse among college students because prevention is better together well I you know we're going to make sure that we include that that uh sound bite you know in the show notes um Dave as usual um thank you so much for for being on the episode today I I always say no matter how long I've known a person and I either interview them or go to a workshop that they do or see them at a conference I always try to come out of that that particular interaction with one new thing I've learned I I think I've got at least four that I've already written down here and and you know and you and I've known each other a while now um but you know from the DEA perspective I want to thank you for your contributions to the materials and resources that we have developed specifically for the prevention professionals who are working on this topic um I've said it before I say it here your contributions are invaluable I really just do appreciate you know that partnership thank you it it's always an honor and I got to say thanks to to you and the team there at DEA for or being a prevention leader for being a voice and doing the great work you all do I know there's an amazing team behind you there at that desk so kudos to the team as well yeah well I've heard it on more than one occasion it's kind of ironic that an enforcement agency is kind of leading kind of a prevention voice in one respect uh but you know we're honored to do so and we can only do that with people like you out in the field so again Dave thanks for being on on the episode good luck with uh new fatherhood I know you're going to be absolutely great and I look forward to a future collaboration with you absolutely together is better thank you very much sure thing and to our viewers thanks for tuning in I hope you enjoyed today's episode as well as all the episodes that we have uh filmed and and recorded uh as part of the whole prevention profiles Take Five series with that I will say thank you and have a great day thank you foreign

2023-07-06 00:47

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