Brenda Tyrrell, Prevention Specialist with Community and Family Resources, July 13, 2026

Our guest on our program today, we're visiting with Brenda Terrell from Community and Family Resources. She is a prevention specialist. Brenda, welcome back. Thank you. It's good to be here. Hey, I tell you what, they couldn't get you. What do we do about the heat, huh? Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, it is Iowa. That's true. It is so true. And yeah, the one thing I said, I mean, it's middle of July. It's not like we haven't experienced this before. Exactly. And the bottom line is it's excellent for the corn, right? Well, it is. Yeah. It gets... Well, it's cool. Anyway, that will go there some other time. But cool wet start. It slowed things down. We needed some heating degree days. Right, right, right. I didn't want them all at once, but apparently Mother Nature makes different. Yeah. And it's not even... I mean, we're going to get it. We're used to it. We're, you know, we haven't gone from that 70 to the 90. Yeah. Yeah. At least we've been here for a while. Yeah. It is one of those things, though, because I know people get tired. A lot of safety reminders we keep putting out there, check on everybody else and stuff like that. Yeah. But Brenda's here to talk about something else about community and family resources. And, you know, one of the things that, and I had looked at and I saw you have, what, another training it's actually going to be at the library Tuesday. This is part of a series that you were doing, right? Yes. Yes. So this is the third one. We have two more. We have the one tomorrow night and then we have one on the 28th. Okay. The thing that's going to be a little bit different about this one is Diane Hinderacher has kindly loaned the drug box to me. Oh, okay. I will be displaying the drug box at the next two trainings. So if you want to see the drug box, step on in. This is the items that have been accumulated. Yes. Yeah. And again, it comes through safe. Yeah. Okay. So it's again, let's people just see this. These are some of the things that are there. Yeah. I mean, people in my office keep coming in to look at it because, you know, if you're not in that world, it's really hard to know what you're supposed to be looking for. So it's really benefited even our office staff to be able to see what these things actually look like. So. Oh, that's what that is. Yes. Yeah. I can just hear that. Yeah. Oh, that's what that is. Yeah. So this is available and once again, this is going to be at the Ericsson Public Library, right? Yep. Six? Six o'clock? Six to seven thirty. Okay. So what it appears, I'm guessing, is where it'll be. So you can come in off the seventh street and take the elevator up and there you go. There I am. So yeah. And it's air conditioned too. Yes. It's a nice big space. Works well. Again, this is just part of the training that you make available or CFR makes you make a lot of training available for people. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of times people think when we have you come and talk about, we're going to talk about, this is what we do at the service that we do, but it's training, educating the people and public and people in the community about the different issues, different things, how they can become involved. Yeah. And that's the big thing. Yeah. And one of the things that we just did at the beginning to the middle of June is we kind of made our rounds to different areas and different organizations in Boone County to see exactly what do you want to see in your community rather than us coming in and telling you what you need. And that was very helpful for me especially to be able to recognize what strategies would best fit what Boone's community, Boone County's community needs are. And part of it is, I know people think they know all of the different things that might be happening and some might be more aware than others. But when you go to the different, and I know you go around, you've been to all of the city councils and I think the school boards as well. And you did pick up a lot of different things that they talked about. Yeah. Yeah. And it basically just boils down to like three different things. And one of them is, so we already do problem gambling and that's something that we're going to keep doing, but we're going to shift our gears just a little bit. And instead of hitting workplaces, we're going to start teaching in schools. Okay. Curriculum that's called stacked deck and it will be, I believe, sixth, sixth to eighth grade, I think is the range that we're, we're, we're shooting for. And people will go, that seems awfully young, but that's about the time that they're starting to transition from playing video games, which are kind of an introductory. Yeah. And not only that, but it's like redefining the definition of gambling has to happen. Like it's not the casino. It's not a building that you go to, to go gamble. You can gamble on anything, anywhere, any place. So, and yeah, it's a lot, a lot more out there. Anyway, so starting like sixth, eighth grade in that, in that area with this training program, yep, yep. The, the second thing that we decided to do in this, in Boone County specifically is mental health and suicide prevention. And that is also with the youth, but there are elements that will involve adults as well. In case you don't know, I'm sure you do because you're on top of things. But for listeners who might not know, the top two community needs from the community needs assessment was first mental health, second lung cancer. So those are the two that we are really focusing on. And then the last one was, what was the last one? Now I can't remember. Vaping. Vaping, but that kind of goes with our smoking thing. So let me talk about that. So our nicotine, our tobacco action plan includes teaching youth, the Stanford something, something, it's about all about vaping and nicotine and things like that. We're also going to be starting a program called Smoke Free Homes. And what that involves is contacting like property managers and saying, Hey, are you aware that there is a smoke free registry? And if you're not, are you interested in getting on it? Because that's a need in the community is smoke free in any community, right? Is having smoke free housing. So that's kind of a big project for us to take on. So it's going to be interesting to see how we balance that. But yeah, that's coming again. You and I already talked about this, but we're working on the assumption that these grants are these strategies are going to are going to be moved forward with HHS. So we've already started planning. We've already started tracking things that we want to do. For those that don't know, yes, the we are in the new fiscal year. July is the new fiscal year. Yeah. So agencies like CFR, you submit your applications for grant funding to do these educational programs. And again, it comes out of HHS with health, human services. But yeah, and again, that kind of ties in with public health and everything that's going on as well. You mentioned the community needs assessment. Again, use it's the hospital does it every three years, I think it is. And as you said, mental health, the last couple of years have been top on that list. Yeah, I was listening to IPR on the way in and they were talking about how suicide rates and substance use have gone down every place else. But Iowa essentially is what they're saying. So we have work to do and we have we have a lot of work to do. And we're trying to match what we do to what the communities actually told us would be effective, because if you're not getting buy-in from the community, you're not going to make any headway. So I'm really hopeful about these grants, these strategies. Another one that we're working on is it's called wise and I have to look up what it means. Sure, it's an acronym. It's an acronym. And it is, here it is, wellness initiative for senior education. OK, and it's 55 plus and it's essentially six lessons. And it just goes through some really simple things like aging, sensitivity and valuing culture and generational diversity. Some really tangible things like medications and how to handle them and how they influence different age ranges and things like that. We also talk about substance use addiction and older adults. So it's six lessons we're hoping to get around all the big cities, you know, Boone, Madrid and Ogden and get that program out there, too. So and it's that tends to be a forgotten group. The seniors. Yeah. And again, not just so much what you guys do, mental health, first aid, things like that, because very easy. Loneliness, depression, things like that. And I've heard that so many times. Isolation has been one of the biggest words I've heard when talking to that particular population. So yeah. So and yeah, we know that's. How do you combat that? Yeah, yeah. And I say that particular population, but I am part of that population. So it's like, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, and you can see you can keep busy. You got things to do, which is one. That's one thing. Yeah. But for a lot of them, they they don't. They may have lost different groups or organizations that they participated right because you lost a membership. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, there's so there's plenty, plenty new things to work on, too. And I remember on the mental health side for CFR, when we really started doing a lot of regular programs with you guys, it was about mental health, first aid. Yeah. And once again, still a big, a big factor for agencies out there. Yeah. Yeah. And one thing that I really find very interesting and unique about Boone County in general is the. The care that people that I have talked to show to the younger populations, like they want them to have this prevent preventative measures so they can avoid those things that might be coming down the road. And I've heard it in every place that I've went to is like, yeah, youth, youth, youth, youth. So but we're not going to neglect everybody else. No, no, it's going to spread the, spread the joy everywhere. That's the challenge. Yeah. Because yeah, each, each one, you have different, different areas you'd like to approach, especially youth. And we've had in the past to the suicide issues. Yeah. Yeah. And again, those are, those are real challenges. Yep. And unfortunately, yeah, that's the sad news stories we get. Yeah. Yeah. Is when that happens. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know we've had this conversation multiple times and probably have it more times in the future. But prevention is what helps us from going forward to those other things that that might be avoided. So prevention, prevention, prevention. Keep working out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's why your prevention specialists get to work on those too. So again, Brad, let's take a look back a little bit at the first because you just recently, actually, the beginning of the calendar, you're really, we're getting started. So a lot of the training things and collecting a lot of this information on where to direct and training. There are great training opportunities out there. And you guys still do a lot of different trainings. I mean, we're talking about some of the new ones and some of the new direction you're looking to go to have a bigger impact on the community. Yeah. And we always want, we always want to talk about those. We call them SOAR trainings and they're the the flyer with the Narcan training, the stigma training, the understanding addiction. These are the trainings that we're running through X and Public Library right now. But we also want to like offer it to just people who want them, you know, because understanding addiction seems to be one that people really, it's kind of intense, but it people really latch on to that one because they know somebody or they've known somebody or they've been that somebody, you know, that doesn't really understand what addiction is and how to help somebody go through recovery. Yeah, I would venture to guess if I were to ask listeners, a very small percentage would probably actually know where the Narcan distribution stands. Yeah. Yeah. Kiosks, if you will, yeah, are available in Boone County. And there's three. There's one in Boone, one in Madrid, one in Ogden. I believe I haven't been by to verify it, but I believe there's also one in front of Wetsha Smokin and Luther. OK. That's a recently added one, I believe. So go to Wetsha Smokin and see if it's there. Because that's on my list. That would have been one of those new ones, you know, that they could have added on recently. But I know when through the Board of Health, they did have the original three that were going in. So yeah. And I just it's one of those things where, OK, it was on the news and yeah, we knew it was coming. Yeah. Where? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was yeah. So those are now they're waiting for me to tell them. No, look it up. Find out. Find out. This will give you this is your homework to do. Yeah, it's a scavenger hunt. And, you know, and I know, yeah, it's it's one of those things that, you know, they did that. But yeah, it's people just, OK, it's kind of in one ear and out the other. Yeah. They don't know. But you're getting the additional training and they know, OK, where it's at, what I need to do if something happens. Yeah. Yeah. And we take I mean, we talk about Narcan at every place that we go just because it is so critical in saving people's lives. And you could you could use it on a complete stranger and you would still likely save that person's life. And the wonderful thing about Narcan is if you if there's no opioids in the system, it's not going to hurt anybody. Yeah. If there's no opioids. So it doesn't hurt to give it, but it might save a life if you do give it. Precaution. Yeah. Better to be safe than sorry. Absolutely. Again, those are just some of the regular trainings we have going on. What are other popular ones that obviously summertime is kind of that in between getting ready and, like you said, developing new programs that are coming up. Yeah. So we also have we have drug trends. We have I think I mentioned stigma. We also have Kratom and other novel drugs, which, by the way, the legislature. Yeah. Hmm. We don't have enough time to talk about that. OK, we'll leave that. We have a new one that's called risk mitigation. And it's essentially just saying how to be safe. Like if you're going to do this, here's how you can be safe, you know, those kinds of things. We have let's see. We have a couple that are directed to college level students. And now I can't remember what they are. You think I'd have these memorized all memorize. Oh, yeah. So many. Plus the new ones you're working on. Yeah. And I also again heard another rumor that there might be a couple additions or alterations updates to the ones that we currently have through Iowa HHS. So. And that's another one, another thing, too. You guys can start doing these programs and doing that. But they continue to get refined. Right. Because not only because you're not the only ones doing this. And so other groups will say, you know, that we found this works a little better or using this approach or going with this topic and seem to be very receptive here. It may or may not be for our young people that are involved with going, like say, some of the first ones that you're going to be doing, gambling in sixth through eighth grade. Yeah. But a lot of those kids probably just don't realize. Yeah. You know, yeah. They're used to playing video games and, oh, yeah, I win this and I can do this and do this. And that's because I remember several years ago, actually, having a prevention specialist with CFR talking about it's a gateway. And it does. And then we go from there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Again, prevention, prevention, prevention, a lot of that, too. As you get now through the summertime, obviously putting together a lot of these. Now, some are going to be directed specifically for like in school programming and stuff like that. Yes. That's my guess. Yeah. So the way that the grant works, my understanding is about the way the grants work is that we have to have like an action plan that says these are the things that these are our goals. These are what the goals are we're going to meet. Those are the required goals, but there are other things attached to those grants that we can do that aren't part of the requirement, but we still do them. So the grants that we have might look one way, but there are other ways it can look to. So if people want to know, can you do this with this group of people? Let me know and we'll see if we can do this with this group of people. Because, again, we want to get everything out there so people can understand what is going on in the legislation with Gratum. What is going on with tobacco, you know, those kinds of things. So like she's got all this stuff and doesn't want to keep it a secret. Nope. No, that's that's a good thing. Yeah, there's a lot of information, a lot of different programs and a lot of different things that you can put together and do for people. Absolutely. A lot of our existing and people may not even be aware of all the existing different trainings that you have available. Right. No. And, you know, it's. And we're talking about just adding these new ones specifically. Right. Yeah. And, you know, that's that's going to be a gentle break in. It's just like, OK, here's what we now offer. Here's how it differs. Here's the benefit of that. Right. And so it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve for everybody because some of those programs that we're starting also require training for us. So, yeah, so some of them won't be really available to like October, you know, just because we have to have time to do our training so we can deliver the program properly. When we know gambling is still in there, it's going to be done. And then you talked about, especially with the younger kids. Yep. Yeah. So again, a little bit of a different direction, but still trying to get to the root of the issue. Right. Right. In addiction is an addiction. Right. And, you know, we're basing what we decided to do based on conversations that we've had in Boone County. So I feel like we will have we have the potential to really meet a larger audience, even though we're shifting the audience just a little bit because, you know, kids generally have other people that they talk to, adult type people in their lives that have questions, you know, community members that like, oh, I heard this thing from some media church one day, you know. So it is, it seems like, OK, so we're only going to do six to eighth, but that trickles out. Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, you got parents. Right. Right. What are what are you seeing them doing? Yeah. Because they probably happens right in front of them. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, especially like, you know, not to pick on problem gambling, but, you know, if there's online things going on in schools or in homes or just out in the community, people see that, you know, little see that. Yeah. And end a result of that might be when you get over more on that metal health side in the suicide prevention and things like that. Yes. Dealing with some of those issues. Yes. Yeah. I mean, it's all wrapped up in a nice bow. Oh, you know, with prevention in the middle, it's all tied up into, you know, to get a whole bunch. Yeah. So looking at doing a little bit more again with HHS, which basically is our public health. Right. That was a big part of that. So I know they've got a lot of different things that because you've already mentioned, you know, using the community needs assessment to address some of those top issues. Yeah. Yeah. Cancer one is, I don't know what you're going to do for prevention there, but they do have a lot of different things that they're trying to make people aware of. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, it's a political topic now. Yeah. So when, when public health maybe visits our show, we'll go, we'll talk more about some stuff that we actually were collaborating with. So, but I don't want to. Yeah. Yeah. So that's coming. That's coming. It's work in progress. Yeah. We'll have that maybe maybe a little later this year and get Lydia to join you and talk a little bit about some of the things you can collaborate on and do. So, yeah. Wow. Busy. So again, folks, if you want to take in the prevention training that's going to be on Tuesday evening at the Erickson Public Library, you don't have to sign up. All you got to do is show up six o'clock. It's air condition. Yes. And again, find out a little bit more. What are you looking at again? Drug kit. Drug kit. Yeah. That's right. Look at that. Yeah. It's really fascinating. I was bringing it home back to the office and it's in a glass case. Sure. It's like, I'm going to break this thing and then I'm going to be in trouble. Diane's going to be really mad at me if I break this, but I made it there. Okay. It's not broken. Let's talk a few things about safe because again, we had a very strong safe coalition at one time, kind of went away a little bit, but still kind of trying to rebuild itself with different agencies. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we have put out a call. We do need more members. So if you're members of the public that might be interested. Right. And members of the public, you know, anybody that's interested in, you know, substance use, keeping it out of our communities, then either contact myself or Diane Hinderucker, who is the, I don't know if it's a president or but she's like in charge of project safe. Yeah. She's like chairing that committee. Yes. We'll just give her that designation, but yeah. And again, that's one of those things we've had people in and out of that, but we still have a group that really it's hardcore as we try to make sure substance abuse free environment. Absolutely. That's what it's all about. Yep. Once again, Brenda Terrell, our guests, if people want to find out about trainings and things that are coming up and we'll see how again, we don't have all of these that we were talking about that are being planned. Yes. But if they would like to set up presentations, things like that, just get ahold of Brenda at CFRhelps.org. Yep. Yep. That's the best way. Yeah. My email is Brenda T, all low caps and then CFRhelps.org. Okay. Brenda T at CFRhelps.org. Thanks so much for coming in and joining us and getting us all updated on some of the things that we can expect to see. Yes. Are you have to go to school for some of these things now? Well, I mean, it's new training. I mean, it's always things in the prevention world always change. Yeah. So it's just part of the job. Is it exciting when you get into a new area like this? Yes. I'm really, really excited about several of the programs and we are actually heading down a new path. We're taking Duke University's Tobacco Treatment Specialist Program. So we'll have some more research and evidence to take with us when we go out into the community. Brenda Terrell, Community and Family Resources. She is a Prevention Specialist. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me.