As key members of an adolescent’s healthcare team, practitioners in the fields of nursing, social work and interprofessional care have an obligation to help prevent and reduce substance use with their young patients. Asking about substance use and discussing its impact can prevent many harmful effects to the adolescent’s developing brain and potential future. The current and future generations of healthcare professionals need to learn the skills to have essential conversations with adolescents about substance use. NORC at the University of Chicago‘s Adolescent SBIRT Initiative provides tools, resources, and services to make it easy to gain these essential skills.
