Villagomez attended on Thursday the culmination of the four-day Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Training-Leadership Development Event at the Pacific Islands Club.
“The community is part of the solution. We are not doing this because we have a large problem but we’re doing this to prevent the large problem,” he told Variety.
The abuse prevention program will be more effective with the involvement of community organizations, he added.
He said they are now identifying organizations in the community that can help spread the prevention message.
The training was attended by representatives from the Community Guidance Center, the Division of Youth Services, the Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Control Division of the Department of Commerce and the Criminal Justice Planning Agency. The facilitators were the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems Inc. and the Department of Public Safety.
One of the presenters, Becky Robles of the Community Guidance Center, said the training is aimed at utilizing the different agencies in extending the prevention program.
The training, she added, aimed to allow the participants to become certified trainers.
“The information we gather here we can apply to our prevention program within the community,” Robles said.
The other presenters were Reyna Saures, Jose Saures, Greg Borja, Tom Thornburgh, Douglas Palacios, Keith Nabors, Avery Hocog, Ricky Itibus, James Arriola, Nathan Bermudes and Rodolfo Hermicilla.
