Healthy Community Initiative

October is Substance Use & Misuse Prevention Month, and we’re highlighting stories from our community! Sharing your experiences, reflections, and journeys is a powerful way to inspire others, and we’d love to hear them. If you have something you’d like to share, please email ashley@healthycommunityinitiative.org. My name is Charity, and I am an addict. Growing […]

October is Substance Use & Misuse Prevention Month, and we’re highlighting stories from our community! Sharing your experiences, reflections, and journeys is a powerful way to inspire others, and we’d love to hear them. If you have something you’d like to share, please email ashley@healthycommunityinitiative.org. My name is Shantel Arett. I want to start by […]

October is Substance Use & Misuse Prevention Month, and we’re highlighting stories from our community! Sharing your experiences, reflections, and journeys is a powerful way to inspire others, and we’d love to hear them. If you have something you’d like to share, please email ashley@healthycommunityinitiative.org. I struggled with addiction for many years and almost lost […]

October is Substance Use & Misuse Prevention Month and we’re highlighting stories from our community! Sharing your experiences, reflections, and journeys is a powerful way to inspire others and we’d love to hear them. If you have something you’d like to share, please email ashley@healthycommunityinitiative.org. How did I get here? I asked myself this question […]

By Ashley Gardner as a Guest Columnist for the Faribault Daily News September is National Recovery Month, and at Healthy Community Initiative we are celebrating both the power of recovery and the harm reduction work that’s been accomplished through the efforts of the Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition (RCCMHC). Here are some highlights of […]

The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition presented a special Prevention Champion award on July 30 to Lynn James, who is retiring from the Northfield Police Department. James has been the point person for Northfield’s participation in the Take It To The Box program since it launched in 2009. The collaborative drug take-back effort […]

The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition (RCCMHC) is launching a new effort to crowdsource information about the use of Narcan during an overdose. The RCCMHC and the Mobile Opioid Support Team (MOST) have placed 71 Narcan boxes at locations throughout Rice County. Each box contains four free Narcan kits.  If you have used […]

Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) is celebrating National Prevention Week (May 11-17) by recognizing the efforts of local prevention champions. The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition recently presented 2025 Prevention Champion awards to David Aase, principal broker and founder of Revival Commercial Real Estate; Gabbie Carlander, Community School Coordinator at Faribault High School; Daryl […]

By Colton Kemp for the Northfield News Northfielder Nikita Geissler hopes to soon be promoted to house manager at A Way Out Sober Living in Northfield. There was a significant skill he was lacking experience with however — administering naloxone. Naloxone, often referred to as the brand name “Narcan,” is what’s called an opioid antagonist, […]

By Ashley Gardner as a Guest Columnist for the Northfield News Students involved in the RAVE (Reduction and Awareness of Vaping and E-cigarette use) Initiative have launched a campaign to raise awareness in Rice County of how to properly dispose of vape devices. The students organized a vape disposal take-back last month at the Community […]