On Thursday, Nov. 20, Michaela Penwarden-Watson, health promoter, health promotion and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Division and Jackie Balleny, executive director, Sudbury District Restorative Justice, spoke to the Sudbury Board of Health about implementing the Icelandic Prevention Model in the Sudbury and Districts Health Unit catchment area.

In the late 1990’s Iceland was facing one of the highest rates of adolescent substance abuses in the European Union before they developed and implemented the Icelandic Prevention Model (IPM). They turned that tend around and in the last 20 years they have had the lowest rate of substance use and abuse in Europe. Other countries noticed. Currently, more than 30 countries have adapted the Icelandic model. The Public Health Agency of Canada also endor

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