The initial purpose of this grant ion is to determine the reasons that may cause people to need early intervention or treatment services and reduce those factors while strengthening corresponding protective factors.

• Risk factors are characteristics at the biological, psychological, and other individual factor level, and the family, school, community, or cultural level that precede and are associated with a higher likelihood of negative outcomes.
• Protective factors are characteristics associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes or that reduce a risk factor’s impact. Protective factors can be considered positive countering events.

Many factors influence a person’s chance of developing a mental health and/or substance use disorder. Effective prevention focuses on reducing those risk factors and strengthening protective factors that are most closely related to the problem being addressed. Applying the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) helps prevention professionals identify factors having the greatest impact on their target population, in this case, youth ages 9-20 throughout New Jersey. 

Through the Partnership for Success grant, Wellspring Center for Prevention has identified the following goals and objectives:

GOAL: To reduce the incidence and prevalence of behavioral health disorders among youth ages 9-20 throughout New Jersey.

• Objective 1: Decrease youth underage drinking, marijuana use and misuse of prescription drugs/opioids by youth ages 9-20 throughout NJ.
• Objective 2: Increase knowledge on the causes and effects of underage drinking, marijuana use, and misuse of prescription medications/opioids among youth, families and youth serving systems throughout NJ.
• Objective 3: Through the implementation of this initiative, policies and practices among youth serving systems will be improved to reduce the risk factors and enhance the protective factors associated with behavioral health disorders.
• Objective 4: Enhance the CSOC prevention infrastructure to ensure statewide prevention efforts reach youth.

Please return to our website to learn about any updates for this grant. If you’d like additional information, please contact Mara Carlin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.