National Substance Abuse Prevention Month | A look at COVID-19 Related Impacts on Virginia’s Prevention Landscape

When COVID-19 proliferated across the United States in March, the Commonwealth of Virginia enacted a stay-at-home order and all in-person substance use prevention efforts were halted. As a part of our longstanding evaluation efforts of Virginia’s prevention programs, OMNI, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) Office of Behavioral Health Wellness (OBHW) quickly developed a survey to better understand how the pandemic, the stay-at-home order, and the shift to virtual work were impacting the provision of prevention services across the Commonwealth.

The survey results revealed the immediate impacts of the pandemic. Thirty-three of forty community service boards (CSBs, the local entities responsible for providing behavioral health services, including prevention) responded to the survey. Of those CSBs, nearly all (91%) reported having to cancel trainings or meetings and about half (52%) reported not being able to continue focus on prevention work as before. Despite the need for quick changes to their work, 79% felt equipped and able to facilitate virtual meetings, trainings, and remote work moving forward. 

In addition to the data collection from the survey, OMNI worked to facilitate virtual COVID learning sessions, to better understand the everyday challenges CSBs were facing in their work, the strategies they were employing to adapt specific services, and to allow a space for the CSBs to come together to share tips and strategies for working in this new reality. Here is what we learned:

CHALLENGES OF COVID

Many challenges involved using new and unfamiliar technology applications and platforms, difficulty with internet access, reaching targeted populations, and communicating the value of prevention during COVID.

Technology: Challenges with technology presented the primary barrier for remote work, with issues ranging from lack of proper equipment to internet connection issues (especially for rural communities). CSB staff also had to come up to speed quickly in learning new platforms and multiple ways of communicating with partners depending on which programs those partners used. Additional technology challenges included trying to connect with populations that don’t have internet access or are otherwise not engaged online, and privacy concerns when connecting with youth.

Staffing: CSBs also shared challenges due to staffing and staff capacity. Many had to deal with staffing changes due to layoffs or furloughs, while others were pulled away from their primary prevention duties or had to pull in non-prevention staff to implement prevention efforts. Some CSBs also shared that their community or coalition partners were operating at reduced capacity or were unable to shift efforts to new prevention programming with a COVID-19 focus.

Prevention Relevance: Another more nuanced challenge that was voiced by the CSBs was worry around making sure that prevention continued to be visible—especially in light of the pandemic. CSB staff identified that it was important to communicate the value of prevention work during this crisis and beyond. Lastly, we heard that it was difficult for staff to plan for future events during the first few months of the pandemic due to unknown timelines for remote work, unclear travel restrictions, or unknown resources.

SUCCESSFUL COVID ADAPTATIONS

Communities across Virginia worked to transition some in-person strategies to work remotely and worked to build new opportunities and partnerships.

A new virtual reality: Stay at home orders required a shift to virtual offerings. CSBs worked to adapt the content and formats of many trainings including Mental Health First Aid Suicide Prevention Trainings, REVIVE naloxone administration trainings, and ACE interface trainings focused on bringing awareness to the impact of early childhood trauma on subsequent behavioral health issues. In addition to virtual meetings and trainings, staff planned virtual awareness walks and held virtual health fairs featuring videos from different public and behavioral health organizations across the state.

Expanding media campaigns: To help educate the public, prevention staff expanded existing TV, radio, and social media campaigns, shifted some existing campaigns to focus to COVID-19 related content, and partnered with media companies to maximize reach.

A focus on mental health: In the face of growing uncertainty, it was imperative to promote mental health wellness. CSBs distributed information to their communities around staying physically and mentally healthy during the pandemic, shared self-care resources, and partnered with schools and other community leaders to help parents and student navigate everyday challenges. CSBs also used their social media channels and distributed rack cards with messages of self-care around virtual learning, staying connected online, battling feelings of isolation, and emphasizing resilience in the face of difficult circumstances.

COVID-19 forced leaders to adapt their prevention services to meet the new needs of their communities. This meant not only using their networks and infrastructure to continue promoting substance use prevention, but also shifting to inform their communities about the importance of mental health and strategies to stay safe during the pandemic. OMNI will continue working with CSBs in Virginia to evaluate how COVID-19 has affected and will continue to affect prevention services as well as best practices to implement as the pandemic continues.