About the Organization
Panthers for Prevention is a peer education organization. We host fun and engaging events throughout the school year to provide students with information about health related issues that are important to them. We focus on several key concerns, including safe relationships, safe alcohol use, and mental health, but our specific emphases can change as our campus’s needs change. Because of the importance of our mission to Drury’s campus, we have a lot of leadership opportunities for our members. Additionally, we collaborate with several other organizations on campus, including Student Union Board, Greek Life, Allies, V Warriors, Title IX, and Drury Security, and we’re closely connected with Step Up.
Mission Statement
Panthers for Prevention is a social norming and health organization. The goal of this group is to encourage the student body to make well-informed and educated decisions that ideally work to promote their overall health & wellness.
Meetings
Meetings are held in the Residence Life office (FSC 108) every other Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.
How to Join
Membership is open to all students. To join, email one of the advisors listed below and they will get you connected with the President of P4P!
Group President
Siobhan Hurley
shurley@drury.edu
Campus Advisors
Alexis Guth Sparks
Director of Residence Life
FSC 110
Office: (417) 873-6975
aguth@drury.edu
At a Glance
Panthers for Prevention seeks to be a means of support for Drury students about safe alcohol use. We host events throughout the year and provide helpful information in fun and effective ways.
Keg on Campus
A fun and educational event held every fall to promote safe alcohol use among Drury students. This event involves a speaker on a relevant topic, root beer floats, food, and games such as Beer Goggles Mario Kart.
Late Night Breakfast
On the Tuesday of finals week each semester, the Commons opens late at night to serve free breakfast to hundreds of students. Students get in line up to an hour beforehand, and Panthers for Prevention is there with music, breakfast drinks, alcohol education information, and prizes.
Golf Cart Event
This event typically takes place around Halloween. Panthers for Prevention members drive around campus in a golf cart, handing out non-alcoholic drinks in koozies to promote Drury’s Yellow Cab Connection.
Panthers for Prevention periodically participates in events promoting mental health, usually focusing on issues relating to stress relief as well as anxiety, depression, and suicide awareness. These events tend to be more variable and flexible than some of our other events and we often team up with other groups on campus to carry them out.
Every spring during finals week, Panthers for Prevention invites Drury students and staff to bring their fluffy friends for an afternoon of stress relief.
Each year, Panthers for Prevention and other partnering organizations encourage students to complete online suicide prevention training through Ask. Listen. Refer. Students turn in their certificates from the program to be entered into a drawing for gift cards. Students also receive giveaways, brochures relating to mental health, and Panther Care Cards at lunch. Panther Care Cards are wallet-sized cards containing risk factors and warning signs of suicide and depression, and where to get help on campus and in our community. Please visit our page on the Mental Health Awareness Campaign for more information and for a link to take the Ask. Listen. Refer. training.
The free online training Ask. Listen. Refer. is available to all students, staff, and faculty and only takes twenty minutes. The training walks users through risk factors, warning signs, motives, and events of suicide and how to handle concerns regarding suicide.
College students face a whole new set of challenges and stresses. Some of these include:
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Panthers for Prevention seeks to be a means of support for Drury students about safe relationships. We host events throughout the year and provide helpful information in fun and effective ways. Please see below for a list of some of our events and check out our Resources page for more information about great outside resources.
Each February, Panthers for Prevention, in conjunction with Counseling, hosts a healthy relationship contest. Groups of two romantic partners, friends, or coworkers fill out a questionnaire about habits in their relationship. The answers are judged by the campus counselors to identify the relationships with the healthiest behaviors. The top relationship in each category wins a gift card to share.
Each April, Panthers for Prevention coordinates Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The month is full of events put on by different campus organizations all coming together for one cause.
Events include:
Each spring, the Panthers for Prevention hosts “Sex on Campus” where students anonymously ask any question they want pertaining to sex, human anatomy, and sexual misconduct, among others. The event is very humorous, yet still educates the students on many topics pertaining to sex and sexual misconduct. Other giveaways, food, and educational materials are distributed to the students.
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-(TALK) 8255
Veterans Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
Trevor Project Hotline: LGBQT
1-866-488-7386
Eating Disorders Lifeline
1-800-931-2237
Missouri College Health Behavior Survey
The Missouri College Health Behavior Survey (MCHBS) is an online, anonymous survey that Drury and 20 other Missouri colleges and universities take in the Spring Semester. This survey gauges health behaviors and knowledge of students. Questions assess alcohol and drug prevalence, negative consequences associate with drinking and protective behaviors among colleges students. In addition, the survey measure other health behaviors such tobacco use, gambling, and risky driving behavior along with a measure of mental health concerns.
Strategic Plan
The strategic plan is a working document of the cumulative efforts of Drury University’s Coalition (Panthers for Prevention). It attempts to outline the strategic plan to address key problems related to alcohol risk reduction along with the strategic initiatives intended to meet long-term institutional and community goals. Four problem areas are:
- Underage Drinking
- High Risk Behavior
- Party Location and the Availability of Alcohol
- Ensuring Adequate Program Resources and Evaluation