Healthy Lifestyles group starts to flesh out programming

The aspiring Moniteau County Healthy Lifestyles Coalition met again last week, this time pulling together a list of monthly themed resources it plans to provide to students and the community.

The group has decided on monthly programming themes through the month of January. September is suicide awareness, October is bullying prevention, November is smoking, December is alcohol and January is goal setting.

Along with their overarching monthly themes, the group agreed that positive things should be included within each month, such as coping skills or other alternatives when facing each month's topic.

In the group's ongoing search for a coalition leader, there has been some interest expressed by the California School District's student resource officers. The group will continue its search if that doesn't work out.

The group will also create a Facebook page and email address to start strengthening its presence. The above items will be listed on the montly resource page so those who are interested in participating can contact the group to get involved.

The group also discussed a variety of prevention programs for tobacco and vaping, prescription medication and opiods, and support programs for mental health. The group put together a lengthy list of other ideas to potentially implement, from hosting prevention days and health fairs to sponsoring mentoring programs like Lunch Buddies.

Group members will continue pinpointing their top programs they think will benefit Moniteau County in advance of the group's next meeting on Oct. 14 via Zoom.