Prevention/Diversion

Prevention/diversion programs are proactive and evidence-based, striving to reduce individual, family, and environmental risk factors, increase resiliency, enhance protective factors, and achieve individual and comprehensive community wellness through a team or collaborative approach. Prevention/diversion programs utilize strategies designed to keep individuals, families, groups, and communities healthy and free from the problems related to alcohol or other drug use, mental disorders, physical illness, or violence and abuse; to inform the general public of problems associated with those issues, thereby raising awareness; or to intervene with at-risk or identified individuals to reduce or eliminate identified concerns. Programs are provided in the community, school, home, workplace or other settings.

Organizations may provide one or more of the following three types of prevention programs, categorized according to the audience for which they are designed:

• Universal programs target the general population and seek to reduce the overall prevalence of problem behaviors, and include comprehensive, well-coordinated components for individuals, families, schools, communities, and organizations.
• Selected programs target groups that are exposed to factors that place them at a greater than average risk for the problem behavior. These programs are tailored to reduce identified risk factors and strengthen protective factors in the individual. Selected programs may include student assistance (SAP), peer counseling, or peer mentor groups.
• Indicated programs target groups that are exhibiting early signs of the problem behavior. These individuals are at risk for continued or increased problems. Indicated prevention may include programs traditionally thought of as intervention that focus on changing outcomes for individuals and targeting antecedents of problem behavior. Indicated programs may also include diversion programs such as DUI/OWI classes, report centers, home monitoring, after-school tracking, or supervised visitation.