Substance Abuse Prevention

NCCDC works with a coalition of partners whose mission is to strategically reduce and prevent substance (hard drugs) abuse in youth and adults in the greater Bronx, by fostering collaboration among communities and by addressing the environmental factors in a community that contribute to substance abuse.

Risk and Protective Factors for Hard Drug Use

Prevention programs often are designed to enhance “protective factors” and to reduce “risk factors.” Protective factors are those associated with reduced potential for drug use. Risk factors are those that make drug use more likely. Research asserts that for individuals who begin using illicit substances at an early age, several risk factors may increase the likelihood of continued and problematic use in later ages, when substance-related crime becomes much more likely.

Risk factors include: negative peer associations, unrealistic beliefs about the prevalence of illicit drug consumption, inconsistent or abusive parenting, school exclusion and feelings of low self worth. Research has also demonstrated that many of the same risk and protective factors apply to other behaviors such as youth violence, delinquency, school dropout, risky sexual behaviors and teen pregnancy.

Quitting Tobacco

Tobacco is one of the toughest addictions there is – and one of the deadliest.  Yet millions of Americans have quit the habit, and millions more have resisted the tobacco companies’ slick marketing to get you hooked on cigarettes.  NCCDC is committed to offering support and assistance to anyone in our community looking for support in quitting tobacco or staying away from it so you never start.  Below is some information on tobacco – how it impacts you, your health, and your family, and ways to quit.

Health Effects Of Smoking

Tobacco kills thousands of people in New York every year and nearly 430,000 people in the United States.  That’s more than illegal drugs, alcohol, AIDS and car crashes combined.  Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S.  Death usually follows years of suffering a reduced quality of life.  In fact, the average smoker will die 15 years earlier than a non-smoker.  If a smoker quits their life expectancy will improve.

ScoreHealth Screenings

ScoreHealth is a health risk assessment program that looks at many different areas that affect the health of the Bronx community residents.  The main focus is on heart health but many of the areas discussed and measured also affect many other areas of your health, including but not limited to diabetes, cancer, asthma, and osteoporosis.  A health counselor will meet with you in a private area.

Health Disparity In The Bronx

Many factors contribute to racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities, including inadequate access to care, poor quality of care, community features (such as poverty and violence) and personal behaviors. These factors are often associated with underserved racial and ethnic minority groups, individuals who have experienced economic obstacles, those with disabilities and individuals living within medically underserved  communities such as those that exist in the Bronx.

Health Advocacy In The Bronx

Despite ongoing efforts to reduce health disparities in the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in both health and health care persist. Even when income, health insurance and access to care are accounted for, disparities remain.  Low performance on a range of health indicators – such as infant mortality, life expectancy, prevalence of chronic disease and insurance coverage reveal chronic shortage of adequate health care among racial and ethnic minority populations like those in the Bronx.

NCCDC’s long-term vision is to positively impact how people think about diagnosis, treatments and disease management while fostering higher quality health-based interactions. This achievement of this vision is being pursued through the implementation of health advocacy strategies such as

Health Network Management | Patient-to-Patient Mentoring Programs | Outreach and Recruiting

Life Guidance Counseling

NCCDC provides counseling as well as wellness and prevention programs to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities.

The main emphasis of the NCCDC’s Life Guidance Counseling is to provide the patient with interventions which have been proven to be effective for the patient’s specific presenting problem. We at NCCDC recognize the importance of evidence-based treatment and we are committed to increasing our compliance with proven intervention procedures.

Every client has the right to expect that he/she will be given the opportunity to be a partner in a person-centered treatment plan that includes interventions that have been proven to be effective.

The power of the healing touch of kindness and a relationship based in unconditional positive regard must not be underestimated. People have a need to feel understood, cared for and listened to.