Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome back to Just say Something podcast. I'm Phil Clark, and this is where we slow things down enough to talk about the work that doesn't always make headlines, but changes lives. Anyway, today I want to talk about prevention and more specifically, why prevention work is often invisible, under funded, misunderstood, and yet quietly saves lives every single day.
Prevention usually doesn't usually come with a breaking news alert. There's no headline that says crisis avoided today, no press conference announcing the overdose that didn't happen, the addiction that never took hold, or the family that didn't experience a loss because support showed up early.
And that's part of the challenge. We live in a reactive world.
We respond to emergencies, tragedies, and disasters, and that response is important.
But prevention happens before the sorry, before the hospital visit, before the court date, before someone hits rock bottom.
Because nothing visibly explodes, prevention is often overlooked.
I see this firsthand through our work.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: At Just say Something, especially through the.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Initiative like Power Collective.
Power Collective exists specifically in the quiet space Perform Harm occurs.
It's about reducing access to unused or unsecured prescription medications, supporting safer homes, and interrupting a pathway to addiction before it even begins.
There's nothing flashy about that, no dramatic moment, just safer environments, informed choices, and fewer opportunities for misuse.
But that is exactly how prevention works.
Power Collective focuses on practical, evidence based strategies like safe medication storage, community education, and harm reduction.
Because we know that many substance use disorders don't start with illegal drugs.
They often start with prescription medications that are easy to access, misunderstood, or left unsecured.
When these medications are locked up, disposed of properly, are never misused in the first place, there's no headline, no visible crisis, just a different outcome.
And that outcome matters.
Prevention work, like Power Collective, is often misunderstood because people expect results they can see immediately.
But prevention doesn't operate on a news cycle. It operates on a timeline of years, families, and futures.
It's also frequently underfunded because it's treated as optional, something nice to have if resources allow it, rather than something essential.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Meanwhile, we continue to pour enormous amounts of money into emergency responses, treatment, and.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Incarceration for problems that could have been reduced if prevention had been prioritized earlier.
Here's the hard truth.
Prevention doesn't fail.
We fail prevention by not investing in it, not explaining it well, and not valuing outcomes we can't easily see.
Another challenge is that prevention requires nuance.
It's it asks us to acknowledge that individual choices don't happen in isolation.
Environment matters, access matters, stress matters, trauma matters, and policies matter.
Power Collective is built on that understanding.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: It doesn't assume people intend harm.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: It assumes people need support, information, and systems that make healthier choices easier.
And yet prevention is sometimes framed as.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Control, as telling people why they can't do.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: But real prevention isn't about restriction. It's about empowerment.
It's about giving people tools before harm occurs, not punishment after the fact.
When families have access to medication, safety.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Tools and education, they're empowered.
When communities understand how substance misuse often.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Begins, they're better equipped to interrupt it.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: When youth grow up in environments with fewer risk and more support, their outcomes change.
Those changes don't trend on social media, they don't show up in viral moments. But they do add up.
Prevention also saves money, though I wish we didn't need to justify human well being with spreadsheets.
Still, the data is clear.
Every dollar invested in prevention saves multiple dollars in health care costs, criminal justice involvement, and long term treatment.
Power Collective reflects that return on investment in a very real way.
Fewer medications misused, fewer entry points into addiction, and fewer families experiencing preventable harm.
At Just say Something we believe conversations.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Are a form of prevention too.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: Talking openly about substance use, mental health, and community responsibility reduces stigma and increases awareness.
Silence allows problems to grow.
Conversations interrupt them.
If you're listening and wondering what your role is, it doesn't have to be big.
Prevention isn't only about programs or policies.
Sometimes it's about locking up medications.
Sometimes it's about asking questions.
Sometimes it's about supporting prevention initiatives like Power Collective that are doing the quiet, unglamorous work that keeps people safe.
Sometimes prevention looks like saying something when it would be easy to stay quiet.
And just because this work doesn't make headlines doesn't mean it isn't working.
In many cases, it means it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
If this episode resonates with you, I.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Hope you'll share it.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Send it to someone who works in prevention, public health, or community advocacy.
Send it to someone who might not realize how much unseen work goes into protecting families and futures.
And if you haven't already, please like this episode. Subscribe to the Just say Something podcast.
Follow us wherever you listen and leave a review if you can.
Those small actions help these conversations reach more people and help prevention work like Power Collective get the attention and support it deserves.
Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself. Take care of each other. And remember, just because something doesn't make headlines doesn't mean it isn't saving lives every single day.
Again, thank you for listening and we will see you next week. Stay safe.
