This highly interactive session will provide participants with an opportunity to explore dangerous drinking among 18 - 25 year olds, risk and protective factors, environment strategies and other effective prevention approaches and strategic planning for comprehensive approaches to prevention. Participants will also create a plan for addressing an issue of concern in their own community. By the end of the training Participants will be able to name three important developmental considerations for 18 - 25 year-olds that are important to consider in prevention efforts and describe three effective prevention strategies for the 18 - 25 year-old population.

Paul Dexter completed his Master of Social Work degree from Salem State College in 1995, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Maine. He is currently the Director of Early Student Success at the University of Southern Maine, a role focusing on student persistence that includes oversight of the coordination of substance abuse prevention efforts on campus. During his nine-year tenure at USM, Paul has secured over $250,000 of grant funding for substance abuse prevention and intervention initiatives. He is the founder of USM's campus-community coalition to address high-risk and underage drinking in the community, and served on the Safe & Drug Free Schools Committee of the local school district. Paul has participated in the Governor's Task Force on Underage Drinking in the state of Maine, and is also a founding member of the state's Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership. He has been a Center Associate with the Higher Education Center for Alcohol & Other Drug Prevention since 2001, and has acted as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Education to assess "model program" campus efforts. Paul recently completed a national certification with the Prevention Research Institute to become a Prime For Life instructor, teaching a course designed to assist OUI offenders working to have their licenses reinstated. Paul has been a presenter at the annual meetings of the U.S. Department of Education, the Maine College Health Association, the New England College Health Association, the Maine Association of Student Affairs Professionals, the Maine chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and at the Northeast Annual GLBTQA College Conference.

I, II, III, IV & V

Lunches will be provided.