Welcome to Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse (VARSA)

VARSA Community Survey vashonskyVashon-Maury Island from the air looking South © Ray Pfortner

Welcome to Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse (VARSA).   We are a coalition of diverse community members that include:  youth, media, healthcare, businesses, youth-serving organizations, government agencies, schools, parents, religious organizations, civic and volunteer groups, and law enforcement.  VARSA has two grants that funnel almost $300,000 into the community:  the Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant [$125,000]  and the Prevention Redesign Initiative (PRI) grant [$152,000].  We are focused primarily on addressing these issues:

Read more...

We are all Teachers

 

 we are teachers1

 

 

 

The Mountain in August

“Society reaps what it sows in nurturing its children.  Whether abuse of a child is physical, psychological, or sexual it sets off a ripple of hormonal changes that wire the child’s brain to cope with the malevolent world.  It predisposes the child to have a biological basis for fear.

 Early abuse molds the brain to be more irritable and impulsive, hyper-vigilant, suspicious, paranoid, and prone to be swamped by fight or flight reactions that the rational mind may be unable to control.  It may require enormous personal growth and transformation to build secure social relationships later in life.

Dr. Martin Teicher; 2005; Keynote Address; Family Policy Council Partners’ Summit