Just Say Something Podcast Ep. 1: An Introduction to Just Say Something

[00:00:07] Welcome to the just say something podcast. I'm Philip Clark, and I'm the executive director of just say something. And I'm glad you're here with us today. This is our first episode, and so we're very excited about bringing these new episodes to you weekly during the year of 2024. 2023 has been an extraordinary year for us, and 2024 will be the same, no doubt. [00:00:38] So just say something was born as an organization. Around a kitchen table. [00:00:47] Parents were concerned about their kids drinking and smoking back in 1984, and so they met collectively through their neighborhood association, and that turned into who we are today. [00:01:07] Originally, we were Greenville families in action, received our 501 in 1986. [00:01:19] And then as we progressed through the years, in the mid 90s, we changed our name to Greenville Family Partnership. And then most recently in 2018, we changed our name to just say something conversations about alcohol and drugs. [00:01:40] Because just as we were in the early mid 80s, where parents were concerned about their kids smoking and drinking, fast forward to where we are today. [00:01:56] They're still concerned about that. At least we hope they're still concerned about that. But there's so many other things for them to be concerned about as well. [00:02:07] Back in the early 80s, mid 80s, we didn't have the Internet. We didn't have computers. We didn't have cell phones. So if you add all those into the mix, it really creates a shift in addition to what parents potentially are concerned about. [00:02:32] And so how do we combat these issues as an organization for our community? [00:02:41] And there's no one magic pill, Magic bullet. [00:02:48] It has to be a continuum of care for the families, for the parents that as we go through offering our programs, again, not just families, but we have programs for kids, for our youth. We have programs for parents, caregivers, whether that's through foster care, guardian ad litem, some of those other programs out there to help support families, or it's for the entire family overall. [00:03:27] So we have those programming, and we have programs for parents or caregivers of our kids from birth all the way through high school graduation. [00:03:39] And so as we get into these throughout the coming months or weeks and months, you'll learn more and more about our specific programming. [00:03:50] We also have our tobacco work that we do here at just say something. [00:03:58] And with that, we are working diligently with our community to educate about the dangers of tobacco and vaping. [00:04:12] You would think that this wouldn't be a thing, but tobacco still is the number one cause of death in our community. [00:04:23] And so there's things we can do about that. [00:04:29] So we've launched air preserve, which is where we go and work with local municipalities and communities to help them see the advantages and to adopt smoke free, vape free ordinances for their community. [00:04:47] And so that's just one of the avenues that we use, again, to educate our community. [00:04:58] Our most recent initiative that we're very excited about is our power collective. [00:05:07] This is specifically geared toward the issues within our community from opioid. [00:05:17] And so we hear a lot about opioid deaths, we hear a lot about fentanyl. [00:05:25] And so as we form partnerships collectively as a community, we can come together and combat these issues that our community, our families, our businesses, our churches, our places of worship that are all dealing with. [00:05:50] But it's also one of those things that we don't want to talk about because we always think that's not going to happen to my child, that's not going to happen in my family. And chances are it is, unfortunately, today. [00:06:07] So as we continue with our podcast, over the coming year, we will have different members of our team to come on and talk about their program. [00:06:20] The benefits of attending our programming and the opportunities for you to engage in our programming, but also some of the activities that we do around the community to help raise the awareness of the issues. [00:06:41] Only when we raise the awareness, then we're providing education which leads to prevention. [00:06:51] So just say something is here to be proactive and not reactive. [00:06:58] And so we have many community partners that we can refer to, bring in, have them sitting at the table as a collective. And so again, there's numbers in power. [00:07:17] So our power collective is very important to the continued success of our organization. [00:07:28] So you'll be able to keep up with us on our website, which is just say something. Sc.org on our social media channels as well as new for us in 2024 is our YouTube channel station. Whatever that is. I don't know, I'm learning. [00:07:56] And all of our other opportunities to get our message out. We hope you engage, we hope you listen, we hope you question, and we look forward to having you be part of our family here at just say something. Thank you.