There is something magical about this space. We work so well together.”

Rebecca Elwell, executive director, Strategic Prevention Partnerships

PORTSMOUTH — Rebecca Elwell readily admits it was an adjustment moving her office from the bucolic beauty of Glen Farm to the concrete jungle that is the Portsmouth Business Park. 

The executive director of what is now called Strategic Prevention Partnerships, however, has no regrets about relocating two years ago.

“We realized we were growing too fast to stay there,” she said, referring to the town-owned Leonard Brown House on Linden Lane. “I went through a grief process; I thought I’d never love an office as much as that. My corner office looked onto the polo fields.”

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That changed quickly after moving into the 3,555-square-foot office nestled inside the business park at 300 High Point Ave. 

“There is something magical about this space. We work so well together,” she said, adding that while five staff members typically worked out of the Brown House, that number has swelled to nine — plus a part-timer — in the new office. “It is a real good working space. We can spread out, we have creature comforts like storage and stuff. Having the conference room, where we can all gather around in one place — it’s the ideal location to collaborate, create partnerships. I never thought of Portsmouth as a central location, but it kind of is for all of Newport County. The location even — we can jump right on to West Main Road and get to Providence.”

“We’ve just grown,” said Polly Allen, director of prevention for the Newport County Prevention Coalition (NCPC). “Rebecca is a terrific grant-writer and we’re able to do more things.”

Gregory Thompson, the organization’s drug-free community grant coordinator, agreed. “It’s great because we’re all under one roof. We were in the old space, too, but we were in different sections so it was harder to collaborate. Here, we have an area to brainstorm, to bounce ideas off one another,” he said.

Thompson co-hosts a podcast with Allen called “Totally Preventable,” which has also benefitted from the larger space. The show started at the Brown House, but that meant sharing space and having to set up microphones and lights before every taping. 

“Here, the space is already set up and ready to go,” Allen said.

They just finished taping their 100th episode of the show, which you can find on Apple Music, Spotify, Google, and at strategicprevention.org.

“We cover all sorts of stuff — a lot of resources for people in our area. They’re really fun interviews,” said Allen, noting most of the chats are done on Zoom. “We can interview people from across the country.”

Recent changes, initiatives

So what else has the organization been up to since moving its office two years ago? For one thing, it’s undergoing a bit of rebranding.

“Our organization is now Strategic Prevention Partnerships, which is the umbrella over the Newport County Prevention Coalition, and No Wrong Door,” said Elwell. NCPC is primarily prevention work, while No Wrong Door, headed up by Bridget Manning, deals with behavioral/mental health issues. 

“Specifically, we help people remove barriers in the community that are hindering them from accessing recovery services,” said Manning, adding that it’s not money or housing people need assistance with as much as basic needs such as clean clothes, accessing showers, and laundry. 

One of No Wrong Door’s more popular offerings is a national program called Laundry Love, which helps low or no-income families and individuals afford the cost of washing clothing and bedding by partnering with local laundromats. Although there are no laundromats in Portsmouth, residents from the community are welcome to participate at businesses outside the town.

The prevention focus has also been tweaked since cannabis was legalized in Rhode Island in 2022. 

“Even though it’s now legal for people 21 and older to purchase and consume cannabis, that doesn’t mean it’s safe,” Elwell said, adding that the organization educates users to use the drug safely and to secure their supply,

“Especially edibles, which are very appealing to little kids,” she said. “You look at some of the packaging and try to distinguish between a regular bag of Doritos and a marijuana-infused Dorito-like chip. We encourage people to lock up their supply, the same way we talk about alcohol,” she said.

Reaching kids

Elwell said it’s become increasing challenging to get their curricula into the schools, especially since COVID. “They’ve got a lot to get done during the school day. We used to be able to go in and do more hands-on programming, and now time is the issue,” she said.

However, the group still has “great relationships” with the schools and their student assistance counselors, through whom they get their messaging out, she said.

Added Allen, “We’ve made some connections with health teachers who are interested in our Campaign to Change Direction. It’s about mental health and it’s free, so that will help their curriculum. We also have made connections with science teachers and we’ve been allowed to go into their classrooms to talk about the dangers of vaping because of the chemicals in it, and how they relate to other things throughout their day. We love to share our resources and ask them, ‘How can we make your job easier and still get our message through?’”

The regional coalition also does outreach at family-friendly events such as parades and festivals. Lately it’s been pushing a program called “Pick Your No’s,” which teaches refusal skills, Allen said. 

“How are you going to say no? If you’re in a store with a friend and they say, ‘Let’s take a candy bar,’ you know that’s stealing, but how do you say no? Research has shown if people don’t have a plan, they’re more likely to go along,” she said.

The coalition is also trying to get the word out about all the different faces of prevention, such as a service offered by the Potter League for Animals.

“If a person has to go into the hospital or into treatment, the Potter League will take their animal and keep their animal safe at no charge until the person is discharged, Elwell said. “I feel we need to publicize that more for folks — that you don’t put yourself last because you have an animal. Someone can step up. Sometimes prevention is offbeat. If you look, anything that serves people serves prevention.”

Their spacious new office has certainly made their jobs as prevention specialists easier, said Allen. With everyone working together in such close proximity, collaborating and communication is a cinch.

“The Tiverton coordinator started a wellness initiative booklet for all ages,” she said. “We could all sit in here and spread out and look at his drafts and have some young eyes on it and say, ‘That’s not really how young people talk,’ or have seasoned eyes on it and say, ‘This is not how we talk in prevention.’ We also have an English major so she can look at the grammar to proof it. There are all different skill sets.”

“We can host trainings here,” Elwell added. “We can host events here; we did an open house and we had about 60 people here and it felt we could have welcomed another 25. The volume of the space is wonderful.

“We are one big team.”

For more information, visit https://strategicprevention.org.