TTC Prevention Workshops are taking place across Southern California. Starting with the North Hollywood and West Valley Police Departments, Tarzana Treatment Centers is giving back. Indeed, TTC offers a free 10-week drug prevention workshop for cadets and families.

Tarzana Treatment Centers (TTC) is proud to provide a variety of drug prevention and awareness workshops at police departments across Los Angeles County. By helping both police officers and local communities understand the complex nature of substance use disorders (SUD), these prevention workshops make positive strides in the right direction.

As a community-based organization, TTC aims to provide these free services to and at police departments across Los Angeles County. Working as the spearhead of this program, Mark Winkler, a Supervisor at TTC’s Youth Service Division, described the program’s vision, saying, “By bringing together critical community stakeholders, we hope to foster positive change. Indeed, there is a good chance that we can help shift perception on many levels.”

TTC Prevention Workshops with Police Departments

The first prevention workshop occurred in 2023 at the North Hollywood Police Department. This partnership event brought together four major community stakeholders (parents, police, youth, and a community-based organization). Partnering with the North Hollywood Police Department, TTC recovery professionals and counselors conducted five drug prevention workshops with youth and parents.

Also, workshops for parents and youth are in separate spaces. In the North Hollywood Police Department, this separation allows for privacy and honest communication. As Officer Estefanie Jimenez explained, “Having separate workshops allowed each group to address their concerns and strategies more freely.”

Beyond raising awareness, a secondary goal was life-skills training for adults and youth. TTC’s parent workshops offer psychoeducation and positive support. The focus is to foster strategies to help their children experience a joyful, drug-free life. The youth workshops send a message that underlines the value of living a joyous, drug-free life. Moreover, the skills needed to live such a life were outlined too.

During the last session, all stakeholders were brought together. By discussing prevention strategies with police officers, parents, and youth, a team mentality was developed. Indeed, the coming together of the stakeholders was a beautiful expression of empowerment. TTC looks forward to repeating this success with other police departments in LA County.

The variety of workshops moving forward will include the following:

1. Prevention Workshops for police cadets in the first years of their service
2. Prevention and Awareness Workshops for police cadets and their families
3. Prevention and Life Skills Workshops for local community members

10-Weeks of TTC Prevention Workshops for Police Cadets

Most importantly, TTC is proud to move forward with the next series of Prevention Workshops. Already started in the last weeks of January 2024, TTC is partnering with the West Valley Police Department. The focus is to bring Prevention Workshops to cadets and their families. Like the workshops in North Hollywood, these events are in English and Spanish.

According to Mark Winkler, Program Supervisor at TTC, the partnership with West Valley Police Department will peacefully unite four major community stakeholders under one roof with one aim – Help Save Our Youth.

A critical element of these prevention workshops is ensuring everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings during these workshops. Thus, parents and cadets are in separate spaces during the first two series of workshops. After the two series, a joint session will occur between the cadets and their parents. The hope is that both sides of the family equation will share what they have experienced. In addition, the participants receive Certificates of Completion. Also, testimonials by participants highlight the final session.

The youth participants are from the West Valley Police Department’s Jeopardy and Cadet Programs. Thus, Jeopardy is designed to offer a chance to avoid incarceration; the youth are motivated to take part and do well. Moreover, some parents of the youth in the program will choose to participate separately in free Zoom sessions with TTC recovery professionals and police officers.

TTC Teaming with Police Departments Across LA County

Overall, Tarzana Treatment Centers believes that offering prevention workshops and raising awareness can help address the SUD crisis in Los Angeles County effectively. Indeed, a key element is the bringing together of these groups in police departments. By bringing these groups together, there is a fostering of a team mentality.

As Mr. Winkler explains, “Implementing the program at the first police department was a real positive. However, it was still just a single department. Now that we are working with a second department in Los Angeles County, the door opens because one is always one, but it is much easier for two to become three and four and onwards. Ultimately, we hope to provide these free services for all the LA County police departments.”

As the events at the North Hollywood Police Department showed and the coming events at the West Valley Police Department will show, police departments are safe and smart places for these gatherings. Therefore, beyond helping cadets and their families, such a location brings together multiple stakeholders and creates a sense of a thriving community team. It makes intelligent and healthy sense for a community-based nonprofit like Tarzana Treatment Centers to give back this way.