The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) reminds us that effective prevention begins with awareness. Understanding our communities and their changing trends is essential for implementing responsive, evidence-based services. This webinar is the first of a four-part series on emerging drug trends in the Pacific Southwest region. It will overview the importance of understanding emerging trends and the opportunities that exist to address them through the lens of the SPF. The webinar will also review risk and protective factors that influence the emergence of new trends. Finally, it will provide a high-level summary of the current and emerging substance use trends in the Pacific Southwest region which will be explored in greater detail in the rest of this series.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Explain the importance of understanding emerging trends.
- Identify opportunities to address emerging trends through strategic planning.
- Identify risk and protective factors that influence the emergence of new trends.
- Describe the current overview of substance use in the Pacific Southwest.
Who Should Participate
Community, tribal, jurisdiction, and state-level substance misuse prevention practitioners and allied health partners located in the Pacific Southwest region, including American Samoa, Arizona, California, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau.
Presenters
Josh Esrick, MPP is the Chief of Training and Technical Assistance at Carnevale Associates, LLC. Mr. Esrick has over ten years of experience researching, writing, evaluating, and presenting on substance use prevention and other behavioral health topics. He is an expert in providing training and technical assistance (T/TA) in substance use, having overseen the development of hundreds of T/TA products for numerous clients, including six of SAMHSA’s ten regional PTTCs, the PTTC Network Coordinating Office, and the Central East ATTC and MHTTC.
Olivia Stuart, LMSW is an Associate with Carnevale Associates, LLC. She has provided training and technical assistance (T/TA) through four of SAMHSA’s ten regional PTTCs and the Central East ATTC. In her role, Ms. Stuart has developed dozens of T/TA products including webinars, intensive training events, conference presentations, reports, and fact sheets on a variety of topics across the fields of substance use prevention and behavioral health.
Dates & Times
States & American Samoa
February 12, 2026
04:00 p.m. – 05:30 p.m. Arizona
03:00 p.m. – 04:30 p.m. Pacific
01:00 p.m. – 02:30 p.m. Hawaii
12:00 p.m. – 01:30 p.m. American Samoa
Pacific Jurisdictions
February 13, 2026
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Republic of the Marshall Islands
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Pohnpei and Kosrae
09:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Chuuk, and Yap
08:00 a.m. – 09:30 a.m. Republic of Palau
(view in your time zone)
Cost: Free!
Certificates of Attendance
Participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance for 1.5 hours for participating in each live webinar session.
Questions?
Please contact Tyler Dean (tdean@casat.org) for any questions related to registration. For any other questions, please contact Audeaneh Saberi (asaberi@casat.org).